Weekly Vintage Image: 4

More from Sisters Beach, North-West Tasmania. The children in photo would be my father & his brothers, the adults being my grandparents (dressed for a day at the beach, of course).

I haven't been to Sisters beach for a good while, and I've been itching to go back recently. It's about a 2½ hour drive from where I currently live, so it's a long trip to do in a day. We've been talking of doing an overnighter up there, just to get away for a bit. Perhaps we should...

The Impossible Project has become possible...

I just read that the Impossible Project has built enough support & shown their commitment to such a level that Polaroid are going to re-release some of their classic instant cameras.

Which is fabulous news - to think that analogue photography can make a come-back (even if the cameras are, I assume, to be a limited run only) when digital is in the ascendancy. Makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside.

Now if only they're develop film for the Kodak EK2 Instant series...

Kiev 6C - first results...

The first roll from the Kiev 6C (AKA "The MURK"). I'm pleased, even if the shots aren't that particularly interesting. I don't think I've metered the images well as the water is washed out in quite a few of the images. Either I didn't meter well, or the meter isn't metering well.

Either way, I'm encouraged by the Kiev's performance on this occasion.

Weekly Vintage Image: 3

And that would probably be my great grandmother. Where this was taken, I have no idea - while the slides were boxed up & kept safe & dry (kudos), nobody seems to have thought it a good idea to write any kind of notes on the off chance everyone in the photo might one day have, er, "passed on".

Weekly Vintage Image: 2

This would be my grandparents & one of their 4 kids. Dad? One of his brothers? I can't tell, unfortunately.

If anyone can identify the location, please do. I am assuming it's probably Sisters Beach (about 40 minutes drive west from Burnie) as I know one of my pop's brothers had a shack there, but the quality of the scanner combined with the age of the slides means it can be a bit hit & miss picking the spot!

Weekly Vintage Image: 1

Something new I want to trial is posting one "vintage" image per week (looks like it'll be Fridays). Recently, I mentioned that my father gave me a box of slides taken by his grandparents in the 1960s. Today, I picked up a cheap film scanner, so this invites me to share these images with whoever stumbles across this blog.

This first image is of my dad, I think. In the garden of his grandparents' house in Burnie, Tasmania. In the background you can make out Round Hill & Emu Bay.

Kiev 4

And here it is - the Kiev 4, which has been dubbed "Kneb"*. Thankyou again, anonymous eBay camera dealer.

It's a bit more beat up than other cameras I have bought online, but I was aware it wasn't perfect and it seems to work like a dream. It has some interesting quirks I will need to get used to - one being that the focussing mechanism locks at infinity! You need to either press down on the front cog thingy to get it to turn, or there's a rather pointy lever on the front which does the same thing. Another is the rangefinder window is right where I usually like to put my right middle finger when I take a photo - well documented, and easy to get around with a bit of practice.

It came with a 35mm cassette which I don't think I'll use, thankfully the take-up spool from the Contaflex fits perfectly (for those who don't know, the Kiev rangefinders are copies of the Zeiss Contax rangefinders).

First impressions? I could get used to the new KNEB...


* for interests' sake, the Kiev 6C is now known as "The MURK" ("Massive Ugly Russian Kamera"), or "URK" for short. The Kiev 6C deserved a slightly more elaborate name to match it's monstrousness, and Kneb sounds a bit too cute...

Kodal EK2 Instant Camera

When mum was cleaning out nan's wardrobe late last year, she found what she thought was a Polaroid camera. Knowing me, she promised I could have it & sent it to me as a Christmas gift.

Upon removing the wrapping, I discovered not the Polaroid I was hoping for, but this: a Kodak EK2 Instant Camera. A bit of research discovered that unfortunately these distinctive (and familiar) cameras are in fact next to unuseable - the instant film hasn't been produced since a highly publicised lawsuit Kodak lost to Polaroid in the mid 1980s.

Still, despite breaking my rule that all cameras in my collection must be useable (as well as the film being out of production, the shutter doesn't trip), I quite like it. It's an evolutionary cul-de-sac, virtually extinct for over 20 years, and a real curio (although often mistaken for a Polaroid, for obvious reasons). It also has sentimental value: I've got several photos of myself with my grandparents taken with this camera.