Cats & Cameras

Sharing a photo set featuring two of my loves today :)

So excited with my case of treasures!

I picked up this vintage suitcase from the 613 flea market in August, just when I had pretty much  given up on finding the perfect one.  All the others I had seen looked fine from the outside, but were stained or ripped on the inside.  And hey, it's what's one the inside that really counts, right? :P

Vintage suitcase smells interesting? Rocky is intrigued

close-up of  my film camera collection

I started my collection rather unintentionally.  I was at Value Village a couple months ago in Kingston when I saw the Keystone Everflash (pictured below at the top of the pyramid) and marveled at the pristine condition it was in.  Price tag: $7.99  Sold! I thought, and happily contemplated venturing into the world of film photography.  At the very least, it would make a cool prop in a vintage shoot, right?  At under ten bucks, I wasn't going to pass it up.

There was, however, no way of testing whether or not it was functional, and so when I came across the Canon AF35ML (middle row, right) at again, a bargain price, I figured it'd be a smart idea to pick it up, just in case one of them didn't work.  Plus, they're both totally different in terms of specs so it would still be reasonable to have both.

So imagine my disappointment when after ordering 35mm film off Amazon and buying fresh batteries, the Canon inexplicably won't turn on.  Oh, and also after being bounced between three different camera stores, finding out that the very unique type of film cartridge used by the Everflash hadn't been produced in decades.  Super sad panda :(

After some lamenting (both quietly and not-so-quietly), I picked up a Mamiya (bottom right) from a photographer selling his collection, and received the Minolta Hi Matic (previously featured in this post) and two Kodak Brownies from my very sweet coworker.  He also lent me his super awesome Zeiss Ikon (below) to try out but I was out-bid on an eBay posting for its almost-impossible-to-acquire film, and so with a heavy heart, I returned it -- not without first taking a bunch of photos, of course.

And really it was this shot and my now growing collection that gave me the idea of doing a "vintage photographer" photo set.  I mean, just look at it! -fangirl squeal- I would pick one up for myself but unfortunately it exceeds my budget for film cameras :(

I've since transferred the film from the Canon to the Mamiya  and will be shooting with this after I finish the roll that's in the Minolta (only 8 more photos to go!)  The Mamiya is quite pretty too, it has the iconic "retro camera" look to it.  The only downside is that it doesn't take AA batteries and so buying specialized batteries is going to be kind of a drag.

I originally planned to have a lot more photographer-focused shots, but as you can see, Rocky was quite interested in hanging around set.  And he's just so handsome and photogenic, I decided to give him the spotlight and make him the co-feature of this photo set :)

You have no idea how hard it was to get him to hold still!  Many treats were involved in the bribing process.

snuggle jail! <3

 Hope you enjoyed these photos! Thanks for reading :)