Lost and Found: Auto Show 1968

A couple months ago, I found some negatives at an estate sale I was at in Glencoe. They were in a box that was simply titled, "Auto Show 1968". It was the same sale I bought a Kodak Retina Reflex at, so I can only assume these were taken on that camera. Take a look!

I tried to scan and edit these negatives faithfully, with the exception of the second to last shot of the light fixture, which I thought looked better upside-down. I really enjoyed seeing the world of 1968 through one person's photographs, so I think I'll do more of these "Lost and Found" posts whenever I find some stray negatives. Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Agfa Viking

The Agfa Viking is a cool little folding camera that was made in the early 1940's. This particular camera belonged to my grandmother, who passed away about five years ago. I don't think she used it more than a couple times, because it's in amazing condition. My Papa (grandpa) gave it to me a few Christmases ago.

 The Viking produces eight large 6x9cm negatives on 620 film. It has shutter speeds ranging from 1/25th to 1/100th of a second (As well as Bulb and Time modes). The focal length of the lens is not mentioned anywhere on the camera, but is probably around 90mm. The lens is extremely slow, with a maximum aperture of f7.7! You compose your shots with either the pop-up finder, or the brilliant finder that's attached to the lens.

All folded up!

Soon after receiving the camera, I took the time to try it out. Here are a few of the shots I took with it:

The camera is obviously not very sharp at all, but it makes for a decent snapshot camera... which is pretty much what it was intended for. Hey, even if your pictures are shit, at least you'll look cool with the Agfa Viking in your hand!

Thanks for looking!

Lost Negative: Refuge

I'm going to start a new segment, called "Lost Negative," where I take the time to show certain shots that I have never printed. The reasons for my never printing these negatives will vary. Some I simply don't like enough to spend the time and resources to print, while others are negatives that just aren't workable (Too overexposed, underexposed, or have flaws I can't work around), but can be brought to life through the wonders of Photoshop. But don't be sad; some of these might one day be printed. You just never know! 

This negative is from over a year ago, when I shot a roll inside an abandoned house near Oquaka, Illinois. I used my Mamiya C330 with an 80mm lens. The negative is just a bit too thin to make a darkroom print from it.

Thanks for looking!

Print: Echo (Part 2)

For the second part of my suburban echo series, I headed back to The Glen. This photo is a multiple exposure of three different corner townhouses. It would have been of four different townhouses, but a creepy old guy was sitting in front of one of the houses giving me weird looks. I used my Mamiya C330 with an 80mm lens, on Ilford Delta 400 film.

Thanks for looking!

Roll: The Renaissance Faire (Part 1)

 

Every year, Katie and I go to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, up in Wisconsin. We actually try to go multiple times, because it's pretty much the greatest place ever. As cliche as it sounds, going to the faire really is like stepping into another world. If you haven't ever gone before, I highly recommend it. There are spectacular sights, fantastic food, and some of the craziest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting.

I brought my Olympus OM-2n with me to the faire, along with a roll of Kodak Gold 200. There were a LOT of cameras there, but I was the only one shooting film that I could see. I got called out on my camera by the Vegetable Justice guy, who insults you while you throw tomatoes at him. He said something along the lines of, "Hey, why are you still carrying around that camera from 1984? Don't you know they don't develop film anymore? Oh... let me guess, you're an artist. I bet you have your own blackroom, too."

He read me like a book.

Here are some of the shots I got from our day at the faire:

Thanks for looking! I'll be bringing a camera with me each time I go to the faire this summer, so be ready for some more renaissance photography!

Spotlight: Kodak Retina Reflex

The Kodak Retina cameras were a well-built (if not slightly quirky) line of viewfinder and rangefinder cameras that first started production in the late thirties. The Kodak Retina Reflex was the first Single Lens Reflex camera in the Retina line, and was released in 1957. The Reflex borrows a lot of design cues from its rangefinder siblings, and looks very similar to my Retina iiiC when placed side by side. It even shares the same lens mount as my iiiC, and accepts the 35mm and 80mm auxiliary lenses that were created for that camera. Very cool!

Retina Reflex with the 35mm f5.6 auxiliary lens attached

 The Retina Relfex is an amazing piece of 1950's mechanical engineering. Most SLR's have a focal plane shutter, which is behind the viewing mirror. Now, the Retina Reflex has a leaf shutter that is placed in front of the mirror. This makes things pretty tricky, because you can't compose your image when the shutter is closed, so it has to stay open while you are looking through the camera. While you are looking through the viewfinder, there is a second shutter behind the mirror that is keeping the film from being exposed by the open leaf shutter. So when you finally press the shutter release, the leaf shutter closes, the mirror raises up, the second shutter opens to reveal the film, the aperture closes down, and then the leaf shutter opens again at the set shutter speed to exposed the film. Phew! That's a lot of things that have to happen within a split second. It's amazing everything still works right.

Retina Reflex with the 80mm f4 auxiliary lens (and hood!) attached. Bad ass.

I got my hands on this camera for pretty cheap ($25) off of Etsy, since it had a few things wrong with it. The slow shutter speeds (1/15th through 1 second) stick, and there are some cracks in the viewfinder prism. None of these were deal-breakers though, and I produced some pretty nice photos (in my opinion) with the camera. Take a look!

 Wow! I just realized that all but one of these photos are vertical! What gives? Overall I enjoyed using the Retina Reflex, though it's definitely a bit slower and clunkier than the iiiC. Thanks for looking!

Print: The White Bride

"...And she continuously shuffles across the length of a fallen tree, dressed in white, reliving her walk down the aisle."

 I found this doll at a Goodwill, thanks to a tip from Katie. I even shelled out twenty bucks for it! I actually left the doll out in the rain too long, as her head, hair and eyes all fell apart. I had to work some miracles with masking tape and hot glue in order to get her in photographic shape! It was a day after a big rainstorm when I took this photo, and there was standing water everywhere in the woods, which means there were mosquitoes. Lots and lots of mosquitoes. Oh, the things I do for love!

I used my Mamiya C330 with a 105mm lens, on Ilford Delta 400 film. Thanks for looking!