Imagine this. You’re a seventeen year old, amateur photographer who has a serious spending problem. The setting, an amazing antique store. The subject, a vintage film camera.
Shopping at antique stores is a favorite pastime for my mother and her friends, and I am always willing to tag along. The outings are fun and I like to pursue the stores vast collections of hidden gems. Most of the time I don’t come away with many (if any) items. But one day was very different. There was a hidden closet in the store with its door taken off. The shelves were chock full of old things. In particular, there was a whole shelf full of old cameras. My eyes picked out a Minolta XG 1 film camera and it was love at first sight. It had a 45 mm lens with a black leather case and also a price tag that read $65. To some that may not seem like a lot, but to a seventeen year old with $100 to her name, it was a tough decision. Unfortunately when I asked the owners of the store if the camera worked, she couldn’t guarantee that it did. So now I had to make a choice. Spend my money and cross my fingers, or not take the risk and never know the reward? Well, one debit card swipe later I now owned my first film camera. As soon as I could I brought it over to a photo store near me called Ace Photo. I held my breath as the employee looked over my camera, pressing buttons and opening the back. When she finally told me that the camera works just fine I wanted to burst into tears of happiness. Another $30 later I had my arms full of film, not really knowing how to even work the freaking camera. Thankfully, Youtube exists, and I quickly figured out the inner workings of my Minolta.
On a trip to D.C. I decided it was time to take my new camera out for a spin. I loaded the film just like I had seen on the videos and prepped the camera. Fast forward a few weeks, the developed photos arrived (Ace Photo did the developing work and did a great job), I loaded the CD onto my computer and prayed that I didn’t mess the whole thing up and please let there be at least one good photo! To my surprise, there were more than just one good photo. I had manage to capture some nice shots. Of course some of them came out horribly, due to my own error, but I took it as a learning curve. Now in the present, my film camera always has a place in my camera bag.
Sometimes, the basics will get the job done just right.
Below you will find some of my favorite shots from that first outing with my film camera! (These photos are unedited because I think the film camera produced such a great effect on it’s own!)
If you have any tips or tricks to working with film cameras let me know!
