There was always a camera around our house and on our family trips. It was about capturing those moments of shared history. That Kodak 620 laid a foundation of taking pictures.
My first camera was a Kodak Brownie 127. Along the way there were others including an Exacta or two, and several Canons. The most notable Canon was the silver bodied FTb. Then that first digital, also a Canon. And then a Nikon or two.
Today we all rely on the camera in our phones which, in my opinion, has revolutionized photography and made it more about “image making” and “image sharing.”
But now I’m overstating the obvious and losing the thread of this history lesson.
The Kodak 620 was a folding camera that my dad literally put in his pocket starting in the 1940s and shot everything from his children to houses to cars he owned to those (at least to us) epic vacations. From Detroit to Tucson to Bowie to Willcox and many stops in between (plus trips back to Michigan every few years) the life of this image-maker spanned the 194s to the 1970s.
Bear with me, I’m trying to show an evolution here…
That 127-film Brownie came from a gift shop in Banff (Alberta) National Park (of Canada). I was 8 on our Canadian vacation that summer and whined I was tired of “sharing” a camera with my brother. This camera got me thinking about imaging as each frame had to be carefully framed and thought through before clicking the shutter.
The Canon FTb was shlepped across Europe 16 years later. I bought it used from the camera store I worked in. Paired with a second FTb, my then-wife and I hitchhiked our way across Western Europe and shot almost 1,000 images.
Fast forward to the digital camera from 2000 and you have the start of the digital age.At least those images could be emailed and printed at home. And pre-dated the phone cameras of today.
Four eras with four perspectives and approaches. Not unlike how we process relationships and memories. While we no long visit PhotoMat or the corner drug store to get our images processed and printed. We do still frame, compose and shot. And then curate.
While I admit I am “old school” I treasure the memories that go with capturing the images as much as the images themselves. And the memories of this standing beside me or in front of me as I took those prized frames.
Remember the experience as much as the final product.
Relentless
