Photo of me with the camera I had been using for my Records in both Newfoundland and Korea. It’s an old camera, that my aunt had asked me to try and fix for her when I was back in Newfoundland. She had left it all winter in her car and it seemed to be working slowly, but after playing with it for an hour or so it got a little better.
It’s strange how these things work. It’s an old camera, from 2006 I believe. It’s a small consumer camera you’d expect your aunt to own. When I first picked it up I almost told her it wasn’t worth trying to fix.
The first photo I took with it was the photo I posted a couple of days ago of my baby cousin. While not the best photo in the world, I felt something when I took it. After playing with the camera for an hour in her house I was really surprised how much it reminded me of the Ricoh film cameras I had always used. The settings all seemed perfectly placed for me. The photos required no processing and the flash worked a treat.
I’ve learned more from this little camera in the past six months then I’d learned from anything I had shot before or since. It’s taught me to not rely on fancy tricks and processing to take interesting photos. It is the camera that has been in my pocket ever since.
On it’s last legs now, I’ll be quite sad if it stops working. As a tool to record, I’ve yet to find better.
At least, for me.
jtinseoul 
Nice tattoos btw, sir.
Thanksssssss! Courtesy of my boy at Soul Train Tattoo whom I photographed for the project, The Culture.
Excellent. Very cool.
Great post encouraging and uplifting as always, one of the things I have learned from your posts is that photography is all about the images and the emotions not the gear, which is great. Keep the posts coming!
Thanks Euan, I appreciate that. It hasn’t always been the case but I am glad that at some point I figured it out. My wallet is quite happy, too.
Indeed it is all about the guy behind the camera not the gear however, and this is something very personal, as I get older I find myself more attached to certain objects. I’m not talking about cameras or any photographic gear but objects in general.
An old lighter, an old backpack… even my old scanner… and yes, a couple of cameras too. Even if they’re not working anymore I like to keep them around and touch them from time to time.
This is just me talking nonsense.
Me too. An old backpack I got new almost 50 years ago. Used it on all my travels until I got too old to carry all my stuff on my back. But it still works. Frameless, heavy canvas.