About Me
I think my first camera was a black and white instant camera that my parents gave to me when I was about 10 years old. I don't recall the brand or model, but you took a photo, pulled the image from the bottom of the camera, and then waited a certain number of seconds before ripping the developing paper from the image. With any luck, something resembling an image would be there.
While I was never a paid photographer or a 'professional', cameras were always a part of my life. Growing up, I owned a couple of point-and-shoots, and as I started my own family, I used cameras to document my children and aging relatives. I thought, like most Americans, you simply didn't visit relatives or go on vacation without one. This also applied to movie cameras. I still own digitized versions of home movies from my grandfather's old movie collection.
After becoming a police officer in the early '90s, I discovered digital cameras in their infancy. While the department was still using 35mm SLRs to document crime scenes, I discovered that keeping even the most rudimentary digital camera in my bag could make my life easier at work. Prosecuting attorneys were amazed when I could meet with them, the day after I made an arrest, and present them with photos that I had taken. They could view them immediately by slipping a floppy disk into their computer. What a concept!
From the 50s on, nearly everyone had a "family" camera that was kept packed away until a graduation or birthday, and, for those of us who remember that, it seems strange to realize that many people no longer do this. With the advent of cell phone cameras, only hobbyists and professionals invest in even a basic digital camera forget film photography! I can only assume that this trend will continue with the unleashing of AI and the prospective effect that will have on photography.
A few years ago, I sold all of my digital photography equipment, in an attempt to find creativity and 'peace' in photography again. I felt as though I was trapped on a mouse wheel of more and better equipment, pixel-peeping, and YouTube videos. I like to think that during those years, I managed to capture some quality images, but the process was no longer tangible. The excitement of peeling that development paper from the image was gone, and I felt more like a computer technician than a passionate photographer.
Since returning to film photography, I have rediscovered the excitement and thrill of walking through even familiar parts of town, and discovering new ways to look at the things around me. As I do so, I thought it would be nice if others who are wrestling with their own entry (or re-entry) into film could share the journey with me. So I decided to log my experiences and lessons here, in the form of reviews and sample images.
I sometimes find myself feeling guilty as I sit at home and look at hundreds of vintage cameras on the internet for sale. Often, with no more than an afterthought, I can purchase a quality film camera. The same camera that shoppers from another time would have wondered if they could afford, and if it did everything that it claimed to do. What would have been a significant financial commitment to those folks is, for most of us, simply a question of whether we want 'yet another' camera.
Still, as I unbox each one, I am filled with an excitement that is difficult to describe but is most akin to being a child at Christmas and opening another gift. It never gets old, that feeling, and I always think of the excitement that those who had unboxed the same camera before me felt.
I never take for granted the quality of the machine that I am holding in my hand, and it never ceases to amaze me when I contemplate the engineering and skill it took to bring it into the world.
So while we operate at a slight disadvantage of seldom ever knowing what it felt like to open one of those cameras when it was brand new, we get the thrill of doing it over and over again. Over and over with different models, brands, and types. And as we use each one, breathing new life into it and using it far beyond what its original creators envisioned, we have to wonder about the images it has taken , many of them before we were born.
While many may disagree with my conclusions and what I believe I have learned along the way, be assured that my motives are pure and my efforts sincere. Though I may make ocasional mistakes or errors, I hope that someone out there finds something here that is useful. Particularly in this age where we are limited to using vintage cameras. Cameras that are often older than ourselves.
I do not have a "staff" and do not use AI to write for me. This page is owned and operated by me, alone, and I appreciate you taking the time to visit.
Tim Lewis
"Paps"