CAMERAS!
Seriously, I have a weird obsession with cameras. I want all kinds of weird, vintage, rare, fancy, high tech, giant, tiny CAMERAS!
I've had this obsession growing since I was little. My grandpa and his brother were big photographers (his brother worked for Kodak for a while), and the first good camera our family had was from him. Then when I got older, senior in high school, I took my first black and white photography class and I got hooked. The darkroom, the chemical process, the black and white tones, EVERYTHING! I was obsessed.
So when I graduated and I didn't know what I wanted to do with myself, I went to community college. I enrolled in a full load and hated it. I wanted to do something with either english or art. So i took a creative writing class, and i liked it, but i wasn't that excited. I also took a digital photography class, LOVED it (the teacher not so much, but whatever).
So i decided that semester: i wanted to be a photographer. Plain and simple, that's what i want to do. I understand it more than anything else i'm into, i love the freedom it holds. Plus, i feel like i'm good at it. My grandpa thought so too, and invested in me by buying me my first REAL camera: a nikon D80. More professional than anything i've ever touched, and i figured it out quick. It was meant to be :)
So Since then, i've worked and gone to school, day in and day out for 8 years, studying photography all along the way. I figured much of it out myself, my grandpa helped out with a bunch too until he died in 2008. I made it my mission to get into CSULB and study for a BFA after getting my AA at my community college, unfortunately CA had budget cuts and *ding* you guessed it, arts gets cut first. THAT'S a whole other story for another time...
So I've been collecting camera's for years now. And since i want to be a photographer, i figured that's an ok obsession to have ;) So here is my collection of camera's (and yes, i use them all):
First up, my first camera that i played with and learned manual controls: the pentax k1000
Great camera, super easy to use (probably the one manual i use the most), and the awesome strap that isn't a repro, it is straight from the early 80s, thanks gramps ;)
Next, my instant family:
the Polaroid One Step SX-70 Land Camera
my good friend actually gave this one to me, she has a much better land camera and didn't use this one, and gave it to me out of the kindness of her heart. Which also led to draining my bank account in my obsession and needing the film. Thanks maria ;)
I also bought a Polaroid One Step 600
Bought this one myself. The Impossible Project (click if you'd like to be obsessed too) had a giant sale on 600 film, so i needed a camera, found one for 10 bucks, obsession grows...
Next, i really liked the newer Fuji instant camera that came out, so obviously i bought it and shit loads of film:
Super fun to play with, love the colors it produces. still gotta figure out the distancing sometimes cuz the view finder isn't where the picture actually lines up, so sometimes it's a little wonky.
Next up is my pretty (old) baby, a Kodak duaflex ii :
this snazzy friend i found in an antique store and snagged it for a reasonable price. It's film is expired (220), but 120 can fit if adjusted. Also, this little bad boy makes an appearance on the cover of my very own book :)
Next beauty is a more recent purchase: Lubitel 166B
Bought it off etsy for a steal. The guy had the original manual and gave me a photo of his, taken with the camera (flowers, really pretty) as a thank you. It's been tough to go FULL manual (no light meter and you have to set everything), but i feel like its making me think more and take better pictures.
Now comes my prized babies, the cameras my grandma found and gave me after my grandpa died:
A Nikon F and a Pentax MX
These cameras mean a lot to me. My grandma had a hard time with my grandpas passing. It took her a little over a year to let me come over and go through some of his stuff. He had drawers and drawers full of old slides and negatives and his big camera bag had these 2 beauties and a couple lenses. I will never get rid of these and I use them with care and love :) (not like i trash my other cameras, you get what i mean!)
Little toy cameras are the shit, don't let anyone tell you different. "They take shitty pictures", they're MEANT to take not so great pictures, its experimentation and it's FUN! I have 2 lomo cameras, one i don't have a photo of cuz it's in storage and I can't get to it, but its a blue fisheye plastic lens camera and its fun as hell to use.
The other one is my Diana F+:
i have the flash in storage as well, but its the F+, i promise. This was bought on a whim and a payday and i love it. I used it with black and white film at the San Juan Capistrano Mission and LOVED the uber contrast the plastic lens and light leaks created. Fun camera!
Last but not least, my pride and joy. The Nikon D80:
this guy has gone with me everywhere. Since my grandpa bought it for me, i've slowly bought all kinds of accessories to accompany it; lenses, flashes, remotes, etc. It is what makes me happy in the world, not just cuz its an awesome camera, but its what started it all (technically i had a tiny kodak that i got for christmas a couple months before, but it was a shared camera with my mom and was a 5MP dinky thing that my mom ended up breaking).
This camera is what pointed me in the direction of "career". I never thought of a career in photography till i had taken my second black and white class. My grandpa asked me if i was serious, i said, "dead serious", and this little guy was given to me to pursue my dreams. It's got over 12,000 shutter clicks (with an average lifespan at 44,000+) and it's only the beginning.
OH! WAIT! I forgot:
This little guy is what takes all these pictures ive been loading on here. My little canon powershot SD1300 point and shoot! It comes in handy and is way better than the Nikon P&S i had. That one broke in less than a year and the company won't fix it, even under warranty.
So there's the collection (so far). Eventually, i'll buy more. I've already got another one on mind (and on the x-mas list). And i will one day own a hassleblad and a leica, i WILL! Just not now, cuz at those prices, i could get a used car.
No comments:
Post a Comment