A Story Behind a Camera

[Hamfish]

I have a few cameras that have sentimental value.

5 years ago a friend of mine found a Polaroid 600 camera at an op shop. He thought of me when he saw it, purchased it and gave it to me. He was quite a self-centred guy so this really was a surprise.

Sadly, he passed away last year but the camera is a constant reminder of him so I keep it around. I had never shot it or even knew if it worked.

My girlfriend surprised me with some impossible project film when i told her the story behind the camera.

The camera lit up to life when the new film packed was inserted and my heart jumped. It worked perfectly.

I guess i'm projecting sentimental feelings onto an item but I really do feel that some cameras have soul, some kind of personality that other artefacts and objects rarely have.

Would love to hear other "stories behind the camera".


Here is my favourite shot from the stack:
Impossible by Topen, on Flickr

 

[Bigmonstertruck]

My father died when I was 6. Of the few things of my Dad's that my mom kept was a Minolta 35 model ii camera with a chiyoko lens and a minolta autocord. Back in the mid 70's when I was in middle school, I became interested in photography and my mom brought these out of hiding and gave them to me. I enjoyed them for a couple of years. Without explaining my entire crazy story, suffice to say that the cameras were cool but didn't have any sentimental meaning at the time. Of course SLR's were overtaking rangefinders, and they were cool and shiny with lights and electronics and internal light meters. So I saved up and bought a Minolta XD-11 when I was in 9th grade. My Dad's cameras got put in a box. Eventually I leant them to one of my brothers on the condition he return them to me when he was done with them.

Recently I got the photography bug after all these years. I asked for the cameras back from my brother, only to find out they had been sold. So based on my memory, my other brother's memory, and other clues that I had, I figured out which specific models the cameras were, and I hunted down a very nice copy of both cameras. There is certainly a possibility that the ones I purchased are my Dad's cameras that my brother sold. And along with it all, my XD-11 sits on the shelf and "my Dad's" old cameras are the ones that get the attention and use.

So yes, I have my own special fantasy and two cameras with a cooperative, kind soul.

Thank you for letting me share this story on Father's Day.

 

[Hamfish]

Awesome story. I really love how you tracked down the both camera models. Regardless of them being the originals or not, I'm glad to hear the attachment associated to them. Both are very beautiful cameras.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[charjohncarter]

Mine isn't sentimental, but I scraped together $50 to buy a Leica IIIf with a perfect 50mm f3.5 in 1963. I was dying for a Nikkormat, but no cash flow. I still have the IIIf and still use it. I never thought about keeping it back then, but 51 years using the same camera. There is something Zen about that.

IIIf 2007:

 

[nikon_sam]

My very first real camera that my parents bought me in 1976...a Vivitar 400/SL...it came with the 50mm 1.9 and 200mm 3.5 lenses with a 2X tele-converter...
I still own everything that came with it except for the big bulky case.
I didn't realize what it actually cost them at the time they bought it but the whole kit was just over $400 ($400 in 1976 is equal to about $1666 today) once I figured that out it meant even more to me...I have retired that camera body after recently repairing a few items on it...that camera was the best thing they did for me as I've been involved in photography from that time until today...that was a huge investment/gamble for them and I really appreciate them doing that for me...photography has been a huge part of my life and I still enjoy it as much or even more than when I was just 16 years old and it's cool to look through my high school yearbook and know so many of those photos are mine...(and they don't suck)

 

[Paul Jenkin]

My first camera (back in the early 1970s when I hit my teenage years) was an Edixa my mum and dad bought me. I had this camera, with it's waist level finder, until the early 1980s when, having left schhol and started work in a junior role in the insurance profession, I started shooting weddings and portraits to supplement my meagre income. At that point, I bought an Olympus OM1n and, subesequently, an OM2n.

I have no recollection of what happened to that Edixa but I suspect I probably got a couple of quid for it as part of an exchange.

All these years later, I'm now going to see if I can track one down and see if I can take a decent shot with it. It's not remotely the best camera in the world (in terms of specification) but it was the only camera I had and was good enough to get me hooked.