Macro Mondays: Paper. Do please read the desciption
Not an exciting image to look at but please read on. The local auction house often has camera stuff, but the images in their brochures are awful. On this occasion I spotted something in an out of focus picture of a box of assorted items, described as old cameras and binoculars. A £10 online bid and I won. I don't think anyone spotted what I saw after I enhanced the image. When I got the box home, there was as suspected a Kodak Retina. Condition fantastic for its age, with its leather case looking almost pristine. Tied to the strap this thick, red paper tag. Already suspecting the Retina was a type 141, I decided to search on Derby Airport and the date on the tag first. Derby Airport had an official opening on the 17th June 1939. The Retina did prove to be a type 141 made between 1937 and 1939. I still wonder what happened next to someone already a qualified pilot, in that summer of 1939, with such ominous clouds gathering over Europe. The camera must have been used after this date judging by the old roll of possibly seventies Kodak film that was in it, but that came back blank from processing. The camera does all function fully though and is simply a joy to use so far. It is a thing of great beauty, but so is the little paper tag that was tied to the case. I have just taken a roll of HP5 out of the camera from its first shoot in a very long time and I hope to process that soon. The camera, case and the tag feel like a little piece of history; if only it were possible to know who had owned it and what became of them after those last two months before the world changed. I'll treasure this thing. Thanks for reading. Scene was just under three inches across including the part of the camera.
Macro Mondays: Paper. Do please read the desciption
Not an exciting image to look at but please read on. The local auction house often has camera stuff, but the images in their brochures are awful. On this occasion I spotted something in an out of focus picture of a box of assorted items, described as old cameras and binoculars. A £10 online bid and I won. I don't think anyone spotted what I saw after I enhanced the image. When I got the box home, there was as suspected a Kodak Retina. Condition fantastic for its age, with its leather case looking almost pristine. Tied to the strap this thick, red paper tag. Already suspecting the Retina was a type 141, I decided to search on Derby Airport and the date on the tag first. Derby Airport had an official opening on the 17th June 1939. The Retina did prove to be a type 141 made between 1937 and 1939. I still wonder what happened next to someone already a qualified pilot, in that summer of 1939, with such ominous clouds gathering over Europe. The camera must have been used after this date judging by the old roll of possibly seventies Kodak film that was in it, but that came back blank from processing. The camera does all function fully though and is simply a joy to use so far. It is a thing of great beauty, but so is the little paper tag that was tied to the case. I have just taken a roll of HP5 out of the camera from its first shoot in a very long time and I hope to process that soon. The camera, case and the tag feel like a little piece of history; if only it were possible to know who had owned it and what became of them after those last two months before the world changed. I'll treasure this thing. Thanks for reading. Scene was just under three inches across including the part of the camera.