Holding the past in my hands
You won’t find me saying this very often about my photos, but I love everything about the way this picture turned out.
This was my dad’s camera from the late 1930s-1940s (He can’t remember exactly when he got it). The Kodak Brownie was to photography what the personal computer was to the Internet. It took photography out of the hands of only professionals with studios and large format cameras and put it into the hands of the average person, giving them an affordable, portable way to take photos, to document their lives in snapshots. (The first Brownie sold for $1.)
I was so touched that my mom and dad wanted me to have this. I’ve never asked for it, although I’ve wanted it for years, and this weekend, they asked me if I wanted it. Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to have this piece of photographic and personal history for my own.
The mirror inside seems to be broken, but I might see if I can have it repaired. I checked today, and while expensive, there is still film available for it.
I shot this on a towel, because I don’t have studio lights and backdrops, and I was thinking, it’s gonna look so stupid! Actually, I like the way the terrycloth ends up looking like a tiny little grid, and the folds give it some depth I wasn’t expecting…. a truly happy accident!
(There’s plenty of history about the Brownie cameras if you google it. :)
Through a Glass, Darkly 