Remembering the Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix

Camera Flashback-Minolta 9000

 
One of my dream cameras when autofocus film cameras were entering the market was the Minolta 9000.
The Minolta 7000 was the camera I think that really got autofocus off the ground in Australia but the 9000 was the fully specced up professional version.
I was a mainly pentax user but had seen the results of one of the entrys in the Telecom Grand Prix Photograph competition ,that I had oversight of, where the photographer was using a Minolta 9000.
I was impressed.
I also read an article in a pro photo magazine where a  wedding photographer had shot a whole wedding on a Minolta 9000 with the camera and flash all set on auto.
He was boasting about how even and consistent his exposures were.
I wasn't all that impressed with his shots but the idea appealed to me.
Well the opportunity came to purchase a used one from a camera store in almost mint condition.
I still have the camera and some lenses and the program flash 4000F.
I used it mainly as back up camera in weddings as I had a comprehensive Pentax set up.
The camera is still one of my favourite film cameras.
The book by Andrew Mannhein on the camera is well worth purchasing.
.It tells you everything about the camera and it's accessories.
The auto focus is very slow by today's standards but it has many professional features.
Get one if you can and want a good professional 35mm  film camera.

Australian GrandPrix(Adelaide) Formula One, Model Race Track

I have now been retired from the official workforce for 4 years this month and it's great to be able to look back on a varied and interesting career.
For the last  5 years of my 28 years with PMG dept and then Telecom Australia(now Telstra) I worked in the Public Relations or Corporate Communications Section of the organisation.
This was a marvellously varied job that I had from talking to school kids, dealing with disgruntled customers,organising functions and acting as a contact point for staff who had needs in their various endeavors.
I often found myself involved in things as diverse as holding a baby wombat at a school  with the South Australian Managing Directors Representative for a photo shoot, to being Secretary and co ordinator of South Australia's Telecom Regional Consumer Council, and organising the Telecom Grand Prix Media and Photographic Awards.
I later worked for the Commonwealth Employment Service and then Centrelink.
The Grand Prix years in Adelaide were great and Telecom was very involved in organising telecommunications for the race and the many media people involved.
Telecom was a Corporate Sponsor of the event and during the race had a miniature replica of the Grand Prix track up and running.
A highlight at the time in the 1988 Grand Prix were races held on the model track featuring drivers Ivan Capelli, Julian Bailey and Australia's Dick Johnson.
Murray Walker did a call of the races.
I do have a copy of the video produced of those races somewhere in my archives.
Anyway here are some pics I took at the time on my trusty Pentax Super A camera.
The general public were allowed to try the slot cars.
I co-ordinated the Awards in 1988 and 1989.

Julian Bailey in yellow shirt and Ivan Capelli to his right

Murray Walker in Action

Telecom's Penny Clarke interviews Murray Walker

Dick Johnson in red and yellow t shirt racing Ivan Capelli