Taken: August 13, 2010
Location: Healdsburg, CA
My Dad decided (likely on the strong prodding of my Mom) to clean out some of his stash of stuff. And by stuff I mean while my Dad would not make it on Hoarders, it's only because my Mom has managed to rein him in over the years. His current bout with garage-cleaning though is my gain. I've mentioned this numerous times on this blog, but it's my Dad who got me interested in photography in the first place. He let me use his cameras and play around in his darkroom. He taught me how to shoot, develop film and make prints, told me about Adams and Bourke-White, Cartier-Bresson, Westin in his favorites the Afreds: Stieglitz and Eisenstaedt, the latter a long-time resident and photo-historian of Martha's Vineyard, where we spent the summers of my youth and where my father's latest stash arrived from.
My Dad sent me two boxes of camera equipment he had saved over the years, some of which he picked up at garage sales, others he bought new and still others, like the one pictured above, were gifts. Most of the stuff is in need of repair or long since outlived its usefulness but there's a few gems in the lot -- some just because it sparks memories of my youth.
The image above is a Ricoh twin-lens reflex camera, a so-called "medium format" camera because the negatives are so large. It is the type of camera used by many of the great photographers of the 20th century and one I've been longing for since I got more serious about taking pictures.
This one is special in all sorts of ways. For one, it was a wedding gift from my Mom to my Dad -- in 1959. Equally thrilling is the camera's condition -- the outside is flawless and the glass looks very clean. I can't wait to see what photos this thing takes. I'll be sure to post them up here soon as I get out and get them developed. Might be awhile though. I am so spoiled by the instant gratification of digital photography. See if my patience holds.
My Dad decided (likely on the strong prodding of my Mom) to clean out some of his stash of stuff. And by stuff I mean while my Dad would not make it on Hoarders, it's only because my Mom has managed to rein him in over the years. His current bout with garage-cleaning though is my gain. I've mentioned this numerous times on this blog, but it's my Dad who got me interested in photography in the first place. He let me use his cameras and play around in his darkroom. He taught me how to shoot, develop film and make prints, told me about Adams and Bourke-White, Cartier-Bresson, Westin in his favorites the Afreds: Stieglitz and Eisenstaedt, the latter a long-time resident and photo-historian of Martha's Vineyard, where we spent the summers of my youth and where my father's latest stash arrived from.
My Dad sent me two boxes of camera equipment he had saved over the years, some of which he picked up at garage sales, others he bought new and still others, like the one pictured above, were gifts. Most of the stuff is in need of repair or long since outlived its usefulness but there's a few gems in the lot -- some just because it sparks memories of my youth.
The image above is a Ricoh twin-lens reflex camera, a so-called "medium format" camera because the negatives are so large. It is the type of camera used by many of the great photographers of the 20th century and one I've been longing for since I got more serious about taking pictures.
This one is special in all sorts of ways. For one, it was a wedding gift from my Mom to my Dad -- in 1959. Equally thrilling is the camera's condition -- the outside is flawless and the glass looks very clean. I can't wait to see what photos this thing takes. I'll be sure to post them up here soon as I get out and get them developed. Might be awhile though. I am so spoiled by the instant gratification of digital photography. See if my patience holds.
No comments:
Post a Comment