Hohenberger had apprenticed as a printer at 13, and spent most of his next 30 years as a printer in various shops throughout the Midwest, eventually, at the Indianapolis Star.
“ My Uncle Rex and my dad did things for Frank. They helped him,” King said.“ Dad drove him places so he could take pictures. Frank could drive, but he never liked it. He wasn’ t much of a driver.” He said one time Hohenberger was coming down Miller’ s Hill too fast and tried to turn the corner too quickly and rolled his Model T over on its top.“ He got out and just got up and walked away.”
Because of their close relationship, Buzz’ s father Fred had the chance to watch the master photographer in action with the huge, wooden view camera which exposed 5X7 film sheets in a light-proof carrier that slid in and out of the camera.
“ Dad would take him out to a place and he would set up his camera with the little curtain over it and he would stick his head under it and look.”
The two friends would just sit and talk, and once in a while Frank would look up. They would talk some more, and at some point, he would get up, focus, slide in a film carrier, take a picture, turn it over, take another picture. Then he’ d say,“ Let’ s go.”
“ He waited for the sun to be in the exact right spot to make the picture better. He was really a master at that. He only took a few color
Hohenberger’ s publication December, 1955.
Hohenberger’ s photo on a 1952 Christmas card. Hobb’ s Branch Road. photographs, and that was late in his life. He liked the black and white.”
Hohenberger not only rubbed elbows with the famous and celebrated— he photographed Eleanor Roosevelt at the door of the Brown County Art Guild and hobnobbed with Ernie Pyle when he was here— he was also friends with a lot of local notables.
“ He was great friends with Andy Rogers and his dad before him,” King said.“ They got along famously. He was friends with a lot of people. He had a fabulous friendship with Pods Miller, who ran the drug store just about a block up the street from where Frank lived. He was a very friendly guy, very pleasant.”
He personally knew big national names like George Eastman and Thomas Edison. He had their phone numbers in his book.
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