Paying it forward. I'm hoping for good.

[oftheherd]

Yesterday my wife wanted to stop at her favorite thrift store. When I accompany her I always check for cameras, but lately it has been hardly worth while. But I found Yashica TL Super. That was my first SLR so many ears ago. I began playing with it. The lubricants were stiff, but loosened up well, and things started working. A clean battery compartment, but a dead meter. Marked at $40, I thought it might be worth while, Figured that was too much, but figured I could talk them down a bit.

As I played with it, I heard someone behind me mention something to the effect I was looking at the camera someone else wanted to look at, and maybe I wasn't going to buy it? It was a young girl looking to be about a freshman in HS, and her mother. It turned out she was taking a photography course and had been told she needed a film SLR. And quickly for class.

I began talking to her and explaining controls on the camera; as well as good and bad things possible from buying it. The more I explained, the more she just seemed to get more and more excited.

"Well, get you mother." I explained the same things to her, and told her to ask for a discount, then decided to do it myself. $29.95, no returns. I told her to just return it to the store as a gift and take if off her taxes if necessary. She was willing to take a chance, and told me how much her daughter enjoyed the class, making all A's in the class.

Watching them walk out with that old camera, with happy faces felt good. I have had a lot of people help me in my photographic journey; some big things and some little things. I hope I helped that young girl get a usable camera. Depends on the meter. I kind of wished I had given one of them my cell number for help if needed, but was afraid it might be misunderstood.

It's good to see young people interested in photography in general, and especially film.

Anybody else done something to pay it forward lately, hopefully more than I just did?

 

[Bob Michaels]

I see a number of similar films SLRs acquired at no cost passed on to students for nothing. Did it myself recently with a Pentax SE kit including 28mm, 50mm and zoom lens. Later realized the 28mm was worth about $100, so wish I had pulled it from the bag.

It is just a rewarding things to do. Actually more logical that buying a camera for $30 then spending too much time to resell it for $50.

 

[cnphoto]

i sold a Leica M + lens to one of my good mates for a ridiculous price, he'd been in love with Leica's for a long time but they where always out of his reach cost wise. all in all it was about 50% less than what they currently go for, but luckily i didn't really loose out much in the end - i think i just broke even on it, more or less.

funnily enough a year and a half later he sold the lens for 2/3 of what he paid for the camera + lens and then bought another lens off of me for the standard market price was and i made a tiny bit of money off of that sale - so it goes both ways in the end.

i'll be giving away a camera this year too via another online photo community, it cost me $10 though so it's not that big of a deal 🙂 - but anything to get people shooting more.

 

[al1966]

Thats great, I have given fellow students paper and film. One student I swapped a Nikon F601 for a cup of coffee with. I did not like the camera though preferring Canon Fd and Fuji X so it was no hardship. When I use film I prefer a manual focus any way. I have given digital point and shoots away as well as a printer. I gave a car away once as well, a lad I worked with had just become a father and his car died. I feel it all comes back to you in other ways though and it has.

 

[maclaine]

A couple weekends ago, I was out and about finishing off some film and enjoying the nice fall weather. I saw two young girls huddled outside of a pharmacy fiddling with a camera I recognized as a Nikon FM. I couldn't resist, so I walked up to them and asked what kind of camera it was, even though I already knew. The girls were much younger than I thought when I saw them from a distance (maybe 13 or 14), so I didn't want to linger too long for fear of giving off the wrong impression, but we chatted a bit about camera gear and what not. It turns out the camera once belonged to the mother of one of the girls, and they had just bought some film to load into it. It was a roll of BW400 CN, which I said was good film, but I thought they might like some more traditional black and white film. I always have a ton of random rolls in my bag, so I fished around and dug out a roll of Neopan 1600 I've had lying around for a while.

The girl with the camera had taken some classes at a local non-profit organization that teaches at-risk youth about photography, both film and digital. I'd heard about the organization before and considered volunteering there, but it had slipped my mind. Talking with these girls reminded me about it and inspired me to make good on my intentions. As you said, it's great to see young kids be enthusiastic about anything creative, really, let alone photography.

 

[oftheherd]

Those are neat stories. I have so many more cameras than I can ever use, I may contact the local high schools and see about donating some. I have thought from time to time about volunteering at a school as well. I just wish I had the time. My wife keep bugging me about retiring, so maybe in a couple of years.