Blog
It was all the Mother-in-Law's fault.
It started last Christmas. A present from the Mother-in-Law was a nondescript cardboard box, but inside were 3 old cameras; a Kodak Brownie 127, a Kodak Duaflex II and a Brownie No2 – the oldest of the 3 dating from 1914. She had included a note: “I hope this is the start of a great collection”. To be honest I hadn’t thought about vintage cameras or collecting them before and even as I looked at the examples before me I wasn’t that fired up to start doing it now. The Christmas festivities came and went without me giving too much thought to the embryonic collection, other than where I was going to store them. Then my wife suggested that I do some research and print out notes for each camera and so build up a reference guide. That was the key. As I googled my way around the web gathering facts about the cameras, I soon realised the history attached to each. In particular, I was able to confirm that the Brownie No 2 I had was indeed an example from 1914. Now whether it was coincidence or design but a new shelf unit soon arrived from Next and I was promised space with which I could display the cameras. Just to make sure the ball really was rolling my Mother-in-Law gifted me another example a month or so later; a Kodak Brownie six-20 Model C.
A pattern was emerging, apart from the No 2; the era was most definitely the 1950s. Other than being the decade of my birth I had no particular interest in the period, but the opportunity to look at what other cameras were around at that time appealed to me. It took me less than 5 mins searching on eBay before I was completely hooked on the project. The first camera I bought myself was a Voightlander Vito B dating from 1959. It was an absolute beauty to behold! Solid German construction with plenty of polished metal on show; it was a cut above the more plastic examples that followed in the 60s and after. And so it started. Several other examples soon followed: Zeiss Ikon Nettar, Zeiss Contina, Agfa Silette, Agfa Isola, Houghton Ensign Selfix, Kodak Retina 1A (and a 1B). Two examples that I particularly prize originate on the other side of the “Iron Curtain”: a Fed 3 (1955) from Ukraine and a Zorki 3C (1961) from Russia; not forgetting the beautiful Bencini Koroll 24S – pure Italian style.
The collection now stands at 18 and my allocated space on the shelving unit has long since being filled. So now there is an overflow display on a shelf in my study and the problem will only get worse. The range of cameras from the 40s and 50s is massive and I’m not inclined to stop now. I’ve obtained a copy of “The Blue Book”, the definitive directory to vintage cameras, which lists their history, rarity, and guide value. Armed with this I go “fishing” on eBay for hours, trying to spot a bargain and there are plenty to be had - for not very many pounds either. Yes you can spend a couple of hundred (or more) hooking a Rolleiflex or Leica, but there are many rewarding examples from that period that can be had for 10 pounds or less.
It all makes sense to me now. As a practitioner of modern photography it is quite natural to look back at earlier periods of the art to gain an understanding of how it developed to where it is today. But above all that, I just love to look at those gorgeous examples of the mid-20th century camera as bits of art in their own right. They certainly make today’s digital compacts look as interesting as a box of matches.
A pattern was emerging, apart from the No 2; the era was most definitely the 1950s. Other than being the decade of my birth I had no particular interest in the period, but the opportunity to look at what other cameras were around at that time appealed to me. It took me less than 5 mins searching on eBay before I was completely hooked on the project. The first camera I bought myself was a Voightlander Vito B dating from 1959. It was an absolute beauty to behold! Solid German construction with plenty of polished metal on show; it was a cut above the more plastic examples that followed in the 60s and after. And so it started. Several other examples soon followed: Zeiss Ikon Nettar, Zeiss Contina, Agfa Silette, Agfa Isola, Houghton Ensign Selfix, Kodak Retina 1A (and a 1B). Two examples that I particularly prize originate on the other side of the “Iron Curtain”: a Fed 3 (1955) from Ukraine and a Zorki 3C (1961) from Russia; not forgetting the beautiful Bencini Koroll 24S – pure Italian style.
The collection now stands at 18 and my allocated space on the shelving unit has long since being filled. So now there is an overflow display on a shelf in my study and the problem will only get worse. The range of cameras from the 40s and 50s is massive and I’m not inclined to stop now. I’ve obtained a copy of “The Blue Book”, the definitive directory to vintage cameras, which lists their history, rarity, and guide value. Armed with this I go “fishing” on eBay for hours, trying to spot a bargain and there are plenty to be had - for not very many pounds either. Yes you can spend a couple of hundred (or more) hooking a Rolleiflex or Leica, but there are many rewarding examples from that period that can be had for 10 pounds or less.
It all makes sense to me now. As a practitioner of modern photography it is quite natural to look back at earlier periods of the art to gain an understanding of how it developed to where it is today. But above all that, I just love to look at those gorgeous examples of the mid-20th century camera as bits of art in their own right. They certainly make today’s digital compacts look as interesting as a box of matches.
21/11/2013