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Feature

Giving Vintage Cameras New Life

By Christine Bockelman

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A new exhibit at the Morristown & Morris Township Library revisits vintage photography techniques and equipment.

Inspiration can strike in the unlikeliest of places. For Morristown residents and longtime friends Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto, that place was Jersey Boy Bagels. “There was an image on the wall that we couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Fiedler says. 


That image was a roughly 8-inch by 6-foot photograph of Morristown Green taken in 1912 by the Parker Studio using a now-antique Kodak Cirkut camera. The camera rotates while taking a photo, producing panoramic images like the one of the Green. 


Fiedler and Roshto decided to try to recreate the image but wanted to do it exactly as it was done in 1912. The first big challenge was finding the camera. “We ordered one on eBay,” Roshto says. “A lot of the internal mechanisms were not functioning well.”  So, they ordered a few more, and Roshto deconstructed them, cleaned the parts, and put it all back together until they finally had a camera that worked.  


Surprisingly, Fiedler and Roshto are not professional photographers. Their backgrounds are in technology and engineering, which hugely influenced the project.  “About 20 percent of this was the creative art piece,” Roshto says. “The other 80 percent was: How do we even approach this? How do we process the film? How do we fix the camera?”


The final image, called “Revolution on the Green,” is the cornerstone of their exhibit “Morristown in Focus,” which runs through the spring at Morristown & Morris Township Library. About 20 other works taken by Fiedler and Roshto, all made using alternative or vintage photography techniques and tools, are also on display. 


To faithfully replicate a 1912 Parker Studio photo of the Green (top photo), Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto cobbled together parts from the few Kodak Cirkut cameras they could find on eBay to build a working camera. They set up the camera in November 2025, when the Green looked most like it did in the 1912 shot. “There weren’t many leaves on the trees in the original, and there was no snow,” Fiedler says. They had limited time to get the shot, and not much of the camera’s special film. For each shot, the camera needs about 20 seconds to span the Green. “If you look at the original photo, there are horses, pedestrians, and a car or two. It’s nothing like the hundreds of cars that go around the Green today,” Fiedler says. They titled their image “Revolution on the Green.” Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto
To faithfully replicate a 1912 Parker Studio photo of the Green (top photo), Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto cobbled together parts from the few Kodak Cirkut cameras they could find on eBay to build a working camera. They set up the camera in November 2025, when the Green looked most like it did in the 1912 shot. “There weren’t many leaves on the trees in the original, and there was no snow,” Fiedler says. They had limited time to get the shot, and not much of the camera’s special film. For each shot, the camera needs about 20 seconds to span the Green. “If you look at the original photo, there are horses, pedestrians, and a car or two. It’s nothing like the hundreds of cars that go around the Green today,” Fiedler says. They titled their image “Revolution on the Green.” Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto

Photos like this one of the Wick Farm House are sometimes called “sprocket shots” because the final image also captures the gear sprockets. “These shots have the analog and mechanicals as part of the art piece, which I love,” Roshto says. “It’s a whimsical way to collapse the process and equipment used in photography into the photograph itself,” Fiedler says. The exhibit at Morristown & Morris Township Library will include about 10 other sprocket shots, as well as artifacts that show how these photographs are produced. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto
Photos like this one of the Wick Farm House are sometimes called “sprocket shots” because the final image also captures the gear sprockets. “These shots have the analog and mechanicals as part of the art piece, which I love,” Roshto says. “It’s a whimsical way to collapse the process and equipment used in photography into the photograph itself,” Fiedler says. The exhibit at Morristown & Morris Township Library will include about 10 other sprocket shots, as well as artifacts that show how these photographs are produced. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto


This solargraph image was taken with a small analog pinhole camera that was set up from July to November 2025. “There’s no glass lens in a pinhole camera,” Fiedler says. “Instead, there’s a very small hole in a sheet of metal, and an optical effect creates an image.” The camera shutter can remain open for months, creating “magic,” he says, like the sky full of lines created by the sun rising and setting each day. Look closer, though, and you’ll also see cloudy spots that hint at foliage growth and the suggestion of hundreds of cars that parked in the same spot while the camera operated. Photograph by Christian Fiedler
This solargraph image was taken with a small analog pinhole camera that was set up from July to November 2025. “There’s no glass lens in a pinhole camera,” Fiedler says. “Instead, there’s a very small hole in a sheet of metal, and an optical effect creates an image.” The camera shutter can remain open for months, creating “magic,” he says, like the sky full of lines created by the sun rising and setting each day. Look closer, though, and you’ll also see cloudy spots that hint at foliage growth and the suggestion of hundreds of cars that parked in the same spot while the camera operated. Photograph by Christian Fiedler

Marshall Roshto (wearing a hat) and Christian Fiedler stand on scaffolding while preparing to photograph the Green using their rebuilt Kodak Cirkut camera. Roshto built it using parts from multiple cameras they ordered on eBay. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto 
Marshall Roshto (wearing a hat) and Christian Fiedler stand on scaffolding while preparing to photograph the Green using their rebuilt Kodak Cirkut camera. Roshto built it using parts from multiple cameras they ordered on eBay. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto 

Feature

Giving Vintage Cameras New Life

By Christine Bockelman

A new exhibit at the Morristown & Morris Township Library revisits vintage photography techniques and equipment.

Like this article? Share it with your friends!

Inspiration can strike in the unlikeliest of places. For Morristown residents and longtime friends Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto, that place was Jersey Boy Bagels. “There was an image on the wall that we couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Fiedler says. 


That image was a roughly 8-inch by 6-foot photograph of Morristown Green taken in 1912 by the Parker Studio using a now-antique Kodak Cirkut camera. The camera rotates while taking a photo, producing panoramic images like the one of the Green. 


Fiedler and Roshto decided to try to recreate the image but wanted to do it exactly as it was done in 1912. The first big challenge was finding the camera. “We ordered one on eBay,” Roshto says. “A lot of the internal mechanisms were not functioning well.”  So, they ordered a few more, and Roshto deconstructed them, cleaned the parts, and put it all back together until they finally had a camera that worked.  


Surprisingly, Fiedler and Roshto are not professional photographers. Their backgrounds are in technology and engineering, which hugely influenced the project.  “About 20 percent of this was the creative art piece,” Roshto says. “The other 80 percent was: How do we even approach this? How do we process the film? How do we fix the camera?”


The final image, called “Revolution on the Green,” is the cornerstone of their exhibit “Morristown in Focus,” which runs through the spring at Morristown & Morris Township Library. About 20 other works taken by Fiedler and Roshto, all made using alternative or vintage photography techniques and tools, are also on display. 


To faithfully replicate a 1912 Parker Studio photo of the Green (top photo), Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto cobbled together parts from the few Kodak Cirkut cameras they could find on eBay to build a working camera. They set up the camera in November 2025, when the Green looked most like it did in the 1912 shot. “There weren’t many leaves on the trees in the original, and there was no snow,” Fiedler says. They had limited time to get the shot, and not much of the camera’s special film. For each shot, the camera needs about 20 seconds to span the Green. “If you look at the original photo, there are horses, pedestrians, and a car or two. It’s nothing like the hundreds of cars that go around the Green today,” Fiedler says. They titled their image “Revolution on the Green.” Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto
To faithfully replicate a 1912 Parker Studio photo of the Green (top photo), Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto cobbled together parts from the few Kodak Cirkut cameras they could find on eBay to build a working camera. They set up the camera in November 2025, when the Green looked most like it did in the 1912 shot. “There weren’t many leaves on the trees in the original, and there was no snow,” Fiedler says. They had limited time to get the shot, and not much of the camera’s special film. For each shot, the camera needs about 20 seconds to span the Green. “If you look at the original photo, there are horses, pedestrians, and a car or two. It’s nothing like the hundreds of cars that go around the Green today,” Fiedler says. They titled their image “Revolution on the Green.” Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto

Photos like this one of the Wick Farm House are sometimes called “sprocket shots” because the final image also captures the gear sprockets. “These shots have the analog and mechanicals as part of the art piece, which I love,” Roshto says. “It’s a whimsical way to collapse the process and equipment used in photography into the photograph itself,” Fiedler says. The exhibit at Morristown & Morris Township Library will include about 10 other sprocket shots, as well as artifacts that show how these photographs are produced. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto
Photos like this one of the Wick Farm House are sometimes called “sprocket shots” because the final image also captures the gear sprockets. “These shots have the analog and mechanicals as part of the art piece, which I love,” Roshto says. “It’s a whimsical way to collapse the process and equipment used in photography into the photograph itself,” Fiedler says. The exhibit at Morristown & Morris Township Library will include about 10 other sprocket shots, as well as artifacts that show how these photographs are produced. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto


This solargraph image was taken with a small analog pinhole camera that was set up from July to November 2025. “There’s no glass lens in a pinhole camera,” Fiedler says. “Instead, there’s a very small hole in a sheet of metal, and an optical effect creates an image.” The camera shutter can remain open for months, creating “magic,” he says, like the sky full of lines created by the sun rising and setting each day. Look closer, though, and you’ll also see cloudy spots that hint at foliage growth and the suggestion of hundreds of cars that parked in the same spot while the camera operated. Photograph by Christian Fiedler
This solargraph image was taken with a small analog pinhole camera that was set up from July to November 2025. “There’s no glass lens in a pinhole camera,” Fiedler says. “Instead, there’s a very small hole in a sheet of metal, and an optical effect creates an image.” The camera shutter can remain open for months, creating “magic,” he says, like the sky full of lines created by the sun rising and setting each day. Look closer, though, and you’ll also see cloudy spots that hint at foliage growth and the suggestion of hundreds of cars that parked in the same spot while the camera operated. Photograph by Christian Fiedler

Marshall Roshto (wearing a hat) and Christian Fiedler stand on scaffolding while preparing to photograph the Green using their rebuilt Kodak Cirkut camera. Roshto built it using parts from multiple cameras they ordered on eBay. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto 
Marshall Roshto (wearing a hat) and Christian Fiedler stand on scaffolding while preparing to photograph the Green using their rebuilt Kodak Cirkut camera. Roshto built it using parts from multiple cameras they ordered on eBay. Photograph by Christian Fiedler and Marshall Roshto 

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