The Lost Images- 1963-1970.

I have a huge collection of photos, digital images, negatives in my collection.
I started taking pictures in 1970 on a Kodak Retina 35mm camera, a Yashica Minister D 35mm rangefinder camera and then a Pentax Spotmatic 2 SLR.

When I look back on my photography there is a definite gap in the collection of family photos.
I have all the images my Dad, my Father in law, and wife's uncle took.

Most of them anyway.

When I look back at my own photos there is a distinct gap of pics between 1963 and 1970.

An most of my generation would probably say the same.

Then there was a surge in the popularity of Photography when people started buying the famous Kodak Instamatic.

Instamatic Pic Darwin 1971

According to wikipedia the Instamatic went into production from 1963 onwards but from my memory it wasn't until the early 70's they came into widespread use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instamatic#Mid-1970s_to_late_1980s

So the people of today are hugely privileged to be able to capture their lives with their phones.

There are heaps of the instamatics available on the used market these days but very hard to get the film cartridges.

See my previous article on these cameras.

https://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/social-networking-with-kodak-instamatic.html

Another classic vintage camera -Finetta 88

We have a friend Jim who is a real Aussie character.
A tough man with a heart of gold who has done hard manual work all his life and still does at 81.
We see him regularly each week for coffee on his "rounds" and he sometimes brings me old cameras he has accumulated while doing odd jobs for people.
The latest he has given me I had not seen the likes of before. A1940-50 interchangeable non slr 35mm camera.
I researched it on the net and soon identified it as a Finetta  88.
This one is labeled as a Hanimar  which was it's name in America and Australia.
The cameras were made in Germany.
Anyway I have loaded a film in it to see how it performs.
Below is a useful link I found on the net.
http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00adhA

I Love old cameras.

As a photographer it occurs to some that when they have cameras in the family that are no longer useful or someone has died they wonder if I would like them.
I don't think I have ever said no.
Today our dear friend Jim and his son Chris dropped in with 4 cameras Jim had in his shed which he gifted to me.
A rather interesting collection.
Here are some pics of Jim and Chris with the cameras and some internet links to their specs.
By today's standards some unusual and strange specimens from the world of camera technology.
The Maximatic is very basic and I had trouble finding any useful information.
Probably would give similar results to a Holga or Diana but using 35mm film.

Kodak Brownie II Flash Camera

How to respool 120mm film onto a 620mm film spool. 620 film is unavailable these days.

http://www.brownie-camera.com/respool/respool.shtml 

                                              http://www.brownie-camera.com/22.shtml

Polaroid J33 Land Camera

http://voices.yahoo.com/vintage-camera-review-polaroid-j33-land-camera-11397814.html

Agfa Isola I

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Agfa_Isola_I

Picture taken with Agfa Isolette which is a medium format,120mm film camera with just a few more refinements than the Agfa Isola

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Isolette

Maximatic

S.W.Jackson-Early Australian Bird Photographer and Naturalist

I love collecting old photos and in particular like reading about and looking up information about photographers from a bygone era.
Especially Wildlife and Bird Photographers.
One person I have come across was S.W. Jackson.
I discovered him in a book by Bernard O'Reilly.
O'reilly wrote 3 Australian books.
"Green Mountains"
"Cullenbenbong"
and "Over the Hills".
They are classic Australian Stories.
"Green Mountains" is an account of a lost Aircraft ( a Stimson) in the rainforests of Queensland.
Bernard O'Reilly found the wreck and their were two survivors.
"Green Mountains" is an Australian classic and a true story.

Below is an extract from "Over the Hills" about how photographers like S.W., Jackson from the wet plate days went about their business.Bernard O'Reilly is telling about his experience as a young assistant to the photographer. The process is a far cry from our snapping away with a digital camera.

And here is are links to wikipedia about S W Jackson and also some of his work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_William_Jackson

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-an11545585

Follow some of the suggested links in wikkipedia and you will uncover lots of interesting information about our photographic history and the inter action between different practicioners.

More Vintage Photography

I still continue to add to my collection of vintage black and white photography.
Here are a few examples.
Photography has long been a popular pastime for families.
I do not know the author of some of these so I trust copyright has long since expired.
These are from the collection of the late Joe Brooks courtesy of Phil Brooks.
Some would have been taken by Joe on a box brownie or a folding Kodak.

Soldiers' entertainment in war time

I would love to know details of this

Portable gramaphone player at a butcher's picnic at Semaphore Beach South Australia 1940's

Early postcard of Adelaide South Australia

We think pioneer hut on Murray River.Made from Hessian and Iron.

Thebarton Primary School class.Grade 3 ,1930.

Glen Thompson my Dad and Inspiration

This is not a photograph but a scan of a Catalina Painting

My Dad, Glen Thompson was an amazing man who died at 70 of cancer.
He was a great inspiration to me and to many. He was a jack of all trades and master of all of them.
He was an accountant in business but also a great photographer,handyman,mechanic,woodworker, metal worker and so much more.
He was a catalina pilot in the 2nd world war.
His interests were many and captured many of them in his photography and home movies.
He taught me and I first learnt photography on his folding Kodak Retina 35mm camera.
He would have loved this digital age as he was always ahead of everyone else in adopting new technology. I have a huge collection of his work and just a few shots are shown here.
Click on  the labels below to find more references and pics.

Glen the Catalina Pilot

Dad and Mum

Writing Home. RAAF Camp Northern Territory

The Haircut

RAAF Camp Northern Territory

RAAF Camp Northern Territory

Splashing down.Taken by my dad from the bubble on the side of a Catalina

Tennis at Memorial Drive Adelaide

I think Frank Sedgeman serving at Memorial Drive in 1950's

more at memorial drive

Memorial Drive

I think also Memorial Drive

I think also Memorial Drive

I think also Memorial Drive

Marrabel Rodeo?

Hill climb motorsports  scramble in Adelaide Hills.Probably Collingrove Hill Climb

Old things Photographic

I love collecting old things from the yesterdays of photography.
It shows the amazing changes that have occurred in this medium and yet photographers in
the past captured amazing images with the technology of the day.
Here are some photos of some  stuff I have a collected.
See recent post below on link.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/vintage-photography-again.html