The silly things that discourage us.

I am intimidated by film photography.

A pretty ridiculous statement it appears now, as I type it out in front of me. But it's true. I am fascinated by cameras - so much so that I collect them - but I never really took the leap and got into photography as a hobby until digital cameras appeared on the scene. There was some worry about getting things wrong, wasting film, etc., etc - I was afraid to just try. A digital camera's instant feedback makes learning less costly (although a lot of the features I think can make you lazy - I try to shoot manual as much as possible to counteract this).

But back to those old cameras - I recently took them out of the cabinet where I store them and put them out on shelves, thinking it's a shame to continue to have them tucked away out of sight. Although my original intent was to keep them protected by putting them in the cabinet in the first place, it's dubious it makes that much of a difference - on the shelf I have them on now, they're not in direct sunlight and it's a low-traffic, low-dust area. Some of the cameras are quite old - early 1900's - and in varying states of disintegration. Some are of more recent vintage and in better shape, if not as-new. Others are so-called "fad" cameras, bought in the last 10 years - pinhole and toy cams. Of the really vintage ones, many still work, and either take currently available film or can be modified to take it - dinosaurs, maybe, but usable.

So I've been thinking to embark on a new project - decidedly long-term - to clean each one up, in turn, and put them to use. I've managed to locate manuals for nearly all of the cameras so "I don't know what this button does" is no longer a viable excuse for not using a camera, and neither is "I hardly know what I'm doing anyway, so it'll be a waste": while I'm surely not a photography expert, I know enough now at least to shake off most of the fear that earlier held me back. It feels like time to take the leap. I still might fail at first, even - horrors - waste film, but whatever it was that earlier kept me from trying doesn't seem to be there anymore.

So far I have a plan to first post about each camera - historical info, some pictures of the camera, maybe some details about its operation - and then have a later post that displays some pictures taken with the camera. Maybe I'll do both in the same post. We'll see how it goes. Don't even ask when I plan to make the first post, I have no idea - mostly I only have time for this sort of thing on the weekends, and even then that competes with other tasks and obligations. But the point of setting this as a project is to just get started in any capacity, never mind the time frame.

Even if I do one a month (and it's likely that is an overly optimistic estimate), we're still talking about a project that extends over two-and-a-half years. So settle in, it'll be a long ride no matter what.

Trying to find an image to go with this post, I could only find one that exemplifies how I wish to become about film photography:

"laid back"

[or, apparently, "channel my inner Prairie Dog"]