Olympus XA, Arista Premium 400
I feel like such an Internet curmudgeon. In my day, sonny, we used Netscape 1.0 to surf static HTML Web pages that were coded in Notepad, and we liked it! I try all the new Internet gewgaws and gimcracks but don’t like most of them. Twitter? What’s the point? Pinterest? Wow, what a colossal waste of time! Instagram? Crappy lo-fi photography? Bah! Bah to the whole lot.
Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
Except that I’ve been posting photos to Instagram more and more lately. Film photos. My other lifelong love has been cameras and photography. I’ve collected vintage film cameras since I was nine years old. I had to start collecting anew after my divorce, which is a long story best told under the influence of really good bourbon. But in the past six or seven years I’ve built a collection of about 75 cameras and I shoot them as much as I can.
Kodak Signet 40, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
Old cars and old cameras – I love it when my hobbies come together. So now when I shoot a roll with an old camera, I upload them to Flickr. When I especially like a photo, I save it to my iPhone, bring it into Instagram, crop it, apply a filter, et voilá. Hm, I’m enjoying a lot of modern Internet technology there. Maybe I’m not as curmudgeonly as I thought.
Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
These headlights go with a ’71 Olds Delta Royale coupe that sometimes showed up in the parking lot at my previous job. I used a wonderful mid-60s Minolta rangefinder camera for this shot.
Polaroid Automatic 250, Fujifilm FP-3000b
Here’s another shot of that ’71 Delta, but this time I used an old Polaroid camera to photograph its delightful tail. Fujifilm still makes film for the old packfilm Polaroid cameras, the kind where you pull the picture out of the camera, wait a while, and then peel the print off the backing paper.
Argus A-Four, Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros
I have a thing for interesting tail lights, and Ford cornered the market on them in the 1960s. This is from a ’67 LTD.
Olympus XA, Arista Premium 400
I don’t discriminate against front ends, though. I love this shot of a ’66 Charger.
Olympus XA, Arista Premium 400
Sometimes a shot pleases me so much that I don’t apply any filters. Such was the case with this ’58 Fury’s immense flank. We Instagrammers tag such photos with #nofilter.
Yashica-D, Kodak Ektachrome E100G
Here’s another #nofilter shot, of my Toyota’s butt. I took this with a big medium-format camera on color slide film and really enjoy the color, tonality, and depth of field I got.
Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
I found this ’41 Buick in the parking lot at Costco, of all places, looking devastatingly stately.
Argus A-Four, Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros
Dare I admit here that I’m kind of over the whole muscle-car thing? But this Nova’s aggressive snout made a good subject.
Olympus OM-1, 50mm f/1.8 F.Zuiko Auto-S, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
Here’s a #selfie. I was just farting around with my Olympus OM-1 in my driveway when I wondered if I could take a reflected photo in my Toyota’s side mirror. If you’re on Instagram, too, you can follow me here.
Nice!
I wish I had the time and inclination to take my photography more seriously. I shot a lot on film back in the day, on a Canon rangefinder that still works, but for some reason, I never shot cars. Odd. Now I wish I had.
Great shots. I love good photography, but know virtually nothing about it (as has probably been evident in more than one of my CCs). My favorites here are the Olds 88 headlights and the Fury flank.
One sentence in your post stood out: “I’ve built a collection of about 75 cameras and I shoot them as much as I can.” It’s a sad thing when a man get so frustrated with his cameras that he uses them for target practice. 🙂
Thanks guys! It’s a lot of fun to shoot these. Because of the Mecum auction here every year I get a lot of practice and have started to feel very at home shooting these cars. That this doesn’t show up on my CC photos is mostly because I’m always in such a hurry.
I’m in Montgomery, WV today for a family reunion and have a couple film cameras loaded and ready. I figured *somebody* on the hillbilly side of the family would be driving a CC today, but no such luck!
And Jim, I probably should have inserted “with” after “shoot” in that sentence! My cameras are all bullet-hole-free.
Olympus XA, my pocket camera companion until digital came along. I also have the standard manual student 35mm SLR, Asahi Pentax K1000. A Minolta Hi-Matic was traded in on the K1000.
I dont shoot film anymore, but the old Pentax glass is getting good use with a Pentax DSLR.
It’s hard to beat old Pentax glass! I’m partial to Pentax and shoot my Pentax ME most often.
Nice to see some real photography, filters or not. Thanks, Jim.
She took the cameras? Did she plan to use them, or? Never mind, I can’t afford good bourbon right now. 🙂
I had to sell them. Oh lord, bring on the bourbon.
Jim, I think the appropriate term is “retrogrouch”, not curmudgeon. Film camera, charcoal grill, lugged-and-brazed steel bicycle, external frame backpack, and yes, manual transmission cars (especially station wagons). (Your rangefinder cameras were retrogrouch even before digital photography!)
By the way, awesome pictures. That might do what my teenage daughter hasn’t been able to: get this retrogrouch onto Instagram.
Ah, thanks for giving me a new word!
Outstanding photography!
You’ve inspired me, Jim. Taking a digital picture and converting it to black and white in iPhoto (along with any other touches, such as aging it) just doesn’t give the feel, depth, and warmth your photos possess. I’m thinking I need to pull out my old 35 mm Olympus or my dad’s 45 year old Yaschica.
Dooooo eeeeeet!
I have a Ricoh XR-M that used to be with me constantly. Hasn’t had a roll of film in it in at least 10 years. You’re making me all nostalgic here.
I’m a serious photographer as well. I’ve been using Canon cameras since I was 10 years old. Unfortunately, I no longer have the equipment to process film so I’ve become a digital convert. Either format has positives and negatives (pun intended) but I like not having to carry tons of film. With my 5D Mark II cameras I can get some great 24×36 prints without too much effort in the processing. Printing on canvas gives the digital format some extra depth.
Thanks for sharing!
Outstanding work Mr. Grey,
Based upon your obvious skills, I would consider you a very talented professional photographer. Whether you have been schooled in photography or not, you exhibit strong composition, dynamic color use, interesting texture contrasts, plus very interesting subjects. I’m a senior graphic designer, and I’d consider you more talented than many of the photographers I deal with. You have the gift and the skill that sets you apart! Hope to see more of your work here. Enjoyed these samples from your portfolio.
Dan
Thanks for saying such nice things about my work. It’s fun to take these photos and watch myself get better at it — but I’m strictly amateur, shooting only in my spare time for my own amusement.
Wow, that Fury shot is amazing Jim.
Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing your hobby.