As I settle into my new HOME, I unpack lovingly all the things I’ve collected that invoke memories or feelings that make me feel loved, connected, passionate, just  plain… HAPPY.

Tonight, it is my camera collection. Of all my possessions, this collection brings back the most of all of the above. I feel immeasurable joy and grounding when I click the shutters of these mechanical beauties – all from a time when taking photos meant having a sense of timing, composition, and understanding of  photography mechanics. There is SOMEthing about the SOUND of an old-school camera – (*read-non-digital) – that feeds my soul in a way that nothing else does.

 

It conjures up the memory of a time when we took pictures with more care and deliberation, knowing what we captured on film was a piece of time and history.  Without the luxury of computer “photoshopping” designed to manipulate reality into a ‘photograph’ of what we WANT it to be, pre-digital photography is a testament to photographers with a natural “eye” for the moment. They could take a slice of life and freeze it in all it’s glorious and imperfect perfection.

 

As I unpack my beloved old-school cameras, I prime and click their mechanic shutters, one after the other, lovingly. And the sound feeds my soul.