That old camera smell

 

Behold the Minolta X-370! Today is the tenth anniversary of the day I got into this business — April Fool’s Day, 1999 — and this is the camera I started out with (minus the motor drive – I added that later). In honor of the occasion, I’ll be toting my old gear to some of my assignments this week and burning a few images onto emulsion. The camera already had some mystery film inside it (?!), so when it’s spent I’m planning to load a roll of Tri-X 400 that’s been sitting on my desk for I don’t know how long (and that ought to appease Z-man). My boss caught wind of what I was doing and called me a masochist.

Nope. Just an April Fool.

This was actually my dad’s camera, but I don’t believe he ever used it. I still remember where I was standing when I heard the announcement that my father had won it in a raffle. I must have been eight or nine years old. I can’t be sure, but I believe I had to go claim it for him – I vaguely recall the box being handed to me. Growing up, this was known in my family as “the good camera,” and you needed to have a damn good reason to use it. I guess no one ever had a good reason, because it was still in mint condition when I hauled it off to college where I would learn to become a widely acclaimed screenwriter…

Bonk!

Anyway, if anything comes out worth sharing I’ll post it here. Until then, here are a few shots I made with the old girl in ‘99 at The GDN. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but I was having a blast.