Seven Years

"... Mr Marley has been dead these seven years, he died seven years ago this very night."  spoken by Scrooge during "A Christmas Carol"

That line from the classic work by Dickens, really sticks in my craw this year - it has an extra meaning to me - Let me explain.

It was seven years ago this weekend, that my good friend and mentor Joseph Hakey of Wakefield Massachusetts passed away and in the interim, I have thought about him constantly.

You see Joe's passing was at the most inopportune time -like a passing can be at a good time - no I mean in his career.

We were all JUST turning to digital cameras, dit cams, as we called them, and Joe was fascinated by them.

You may have heard me speak of the Old Fart Press Photographers of the North Shore. Well many of those meetings were attended by and presided over, if you will, by Joe and at that time, we all spoke of the upcoming revolution. We really did not know about Megapixels and Resolution, or photoshop or CF cards or any of that. The cameras we talked about were two piece units or the Kodak DCS models - built on either a Nikon or Canon frame but still two pieces. Those were the days!

But we would sit in the darkened back room of that Chinese restaurant, and we would talk of days that had gone by and of days to come. It is the days to come that I miss talking with Joe about.

He had a unique view of the world, I will always remember his sage advice - " A fee is a fee is a fee...", meaning that of you got a job as a freelancer, do the best you could cause you were making your fee and that was your living and you needed to do it often.

We would speak of scanning old slides and negatives, old games and assignments we had done, and how the digital camera revolution would change the business.

It is that topic that I miss talking to Joe about. I wonder what kind of camera Joe would be shooting, and if he would have totally embraced the digital camera revolution. I often wonder what he would shoot for cards and how it would have changed his whole business model. Yes we were technically competitors, but that never really played into our discussions.

I really miss Joe and if you knew him and wish to add a comment or a memory I would love to hear what you have to say.

A Nice Photo Find....

Hello all - welcome to the next installment of my blog, I apologize for not writing sooner, I am sure you all (all two of you who read this -hi mom!) have been chomping at the bit to read my next missive. Well kimosabe, your wait is over:

In photographic terms, more specifically in camera terms, I am but a youngster. Many of the friends and acquaintances I have can tell stories of olden days, with bigger cameras, and single shot Speed Graphic 4x5 cameras and more. And I have to tell you, this old technology (if you will) fascinates me. I love looking at the old cameras and trying to imagine covering a game or a fire with one of these. Certainly digital is different than all of that!

In that spirit, I have a small collection of cameras and I am always looking for ones to add to that. I am not hardcore, scouring the ends of the earth for cameras, more just a recreational, casual collector who adds what he can find as he finds it.

Well, in response to an internet posting, a gentleman from Tewksbury Massachusetts notified me that he had a couple of cameras to give away, and was I interested. Sure! So I went by his place and grabbed them from him.

First camera is a Polaroid J66. It is in minty condition, and has all the accessories including the original box - nice add to the collection!

But it was the second camera that had a little extra with it and really added to it.

The camera is a Kodak Duaflex II with a Kodet Lens. An interesting design, with a waist level finder using a mirror (so this is NOT a TLR in the true sense of the word) and a true plastic body. These were made in somewhat limited number in the early 1950's, and are still pretty common today.
So the camera is great, and it is in mint condition too, but can you imagine my amazement to also find the one thing I usually never find with old cameras - FILM !

Yes indeed I found 2 rolls of film!! BOTH ROLLS are BRAND NEW - NEVER OPENED!
But they have both long since EXPIRED! As you can see in the photo, they both expired in 1953! Yes indeed 55 years ago!

There was one other item in the old camera bag also, and I had really only heard stories about these, and that is flashbulbs. A sleeve of them. These are old Number 5 Synchro Press bulbs. They are basically the type you screw in, and I have been told that on dry days, if you happen to be charged with static electricity, you could set these off in your pocket, and get a burn!
Can you guess my next thought? Hmmmm, I have a camera, I have some film, I even have some bulbs. Should I ???? I think I might!!!

I will keep you posted !!