Uncle Jonesy's Camera Podcast #2 is Here!

Kelley and I got together this week to record our second episode of the Uncle Jonesy's Cameras Podcast, and now the show is available for your listening pleasure. In this episode Kelley talks about why it is so important to know how to use your camera's self timer function and why you might want to carry a small tripod with you always.

A Minolta Trio

Kevin talks about three Minolta cameras that have been on his "want" list and how he actually acquired them in a very short time.

The Zenobia C

Next, Kelley has a camera for us that might be unfamiliar to most of you, the Zenobia C. Lastly, we reveal the name of the lucky listener who won a Minolta X-370.

The Zenobia C. Cool or Unclean? You decide!

And the lucky winner is . . . 

We're all about having fun with film photography at Uncle Jonesy's Cameras, and we hope that you enjoy this show.

You can find the show on iTunes, Google Play Music, and Spotify. We really hope that you will subscribe to the podcast so that you will not miss a single episode. And, if you would like to ask us a question or give us a tip, we would love to hear from you. All you have to do is email us at unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com. Also, we love iTunes comments! Please tell us what you think. Lastly, if you like the show, please spread the word about it. Kelley and I are quite passionate about sharing what we have learned about this great hobby, and you can help us spread the word. We thank you in advance!

Enjoy!

Uncle Jonesy's Cameras: The Podcast

Dear Readers,

First, thank you for reading. I appreciate that you take precious time to share in these adventures in film photography, and I hope that you get something out of the these articles that inspires you to have your own adventures and preserve them on film. In the very near future, my brother, Kelley, will be sharing the writing duties with me. I think you will really enjoy his perspective on film photography and gain from what he has learned. I know I will.

And now for the big news:  Kelley and I would like to announce the birth of a new film photography podcast called, appropriately enough, the Uncle Jonesy's Cameras Podcast. As of this writing, we have only one episode available, but new episodes will be posted soon. Our podcast can be found on iTunes, Spotify, and soon to be on Google Music. And if you are using a podcast catcher, you can access the podcast feed here.

We are aware of the explosion of film photography-related podcasts lately (we are fans of most if not all of them), so one might ask why should there be another one. Kelley and I hope to make our podcast very topic oriented. With our educator experience (Kelley is a former music teacher and I am one still) we are imaging our podcast to be like having a teacher handy to help our listeners to find their ways of film photography. We are not experts, and we make mistakes. But that's really the point. We want to share what we have learned from our successes and failures so that you can have more successes than failures. We also plan to devote some part of each episode to answering listener questions. You can send us your questions by email at unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com. You even can record a voice memo on your device and send it to us by email as well. We'd love to hear from you.

Please give us a listen, and if you like what you hear, please click or tap the Subscribe button so you won't miss an episode. And thanks is advance for listening!

One Camera One Lens Challenge

Dear Beloved Readers,

I want to begin this post with an apology (which is not the most positive way of starting this post, but it is quite necessary, as will be seen).

I haven't posted in over a month. My excuse? (Wait for it.) I am a public school teacher in northwest Georgia, and our summer ended on August 1. Now, I know that most of you do not get a two-month break in your job, but, on the other hand, MARTA bus drivers in Atlanta receive a hight hourly wage than most public school teachers, so there's that. Back to my excuse. The beginning of a school year is very time consuming, and I simply haven't been able to devote any time for blog writing until now. I want you to know that I value you readers more than you will ever know, and you deserve regular, if not high quality, content (actually, you deserve that, too). Hopefully, I will keep a better schedule now that the school year is underway.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

At the end of July my wife, Debbie, and I traveled by air to Seattle to visit our daughter, Amber, and her partner, Matthew. We had a wonderful and memorable time visiting these two very special people, and, of course, I planned to shoot some film while there. My original plan was to go the safe route by bringing my two Nikon bodies (an FE and an FM2n - one for B&W and one for color), a 28mm and a 105mm lens, and as much 35mm film as I could carry in my backpack, which was the only luggage I planned to take. I knew it would be heavy, but I was confident I could deal with it.

Then I read somewhere online (I wish I could remember where) of someone taking the "one camera one lens challenge," whereby one only packs one camera and one lens for a trip. I couldn't help but think about how much easier that would be for me, but I was really intrigued by the challenge of tying to meet all my photography goals with just one camera and one lens. And it didn't take me long to choose one camera and one lens. My Rolleicord Va.

Talk about challenge! A sixty year-old camera with a fixed focal length lens with no meter that takes more expensive film, a roll of which only yields twelve exposures. Was I crazy? Who knows when we will be able to visit Seattle again? Certainly not anytime soon. This was risky, and I was in.

Actually, it was quite fun. I enjoyed getting to know the Rolleicord, which, as a twin lens reflex camera, required a much different workflow than what I was used to with SLR's. I also liked being forced to evaluate light and exposure settings without a meter (I did occasionally use the Lightmeter app on my iPhone, but mostly I used "sunny 16.") And, I love the square format and the larger negatives.

As I moved about in Seattle, I could not help be think about Vivian Meier. If you have not heard about her, then do some research. I am an unabashed fan of her work (more about that in a future post).

However, using a camera similars to hers (she use several Rolleiflex models) was daunting. Certainly for me, the camera slows the photographic process way down. Judging the light, setting exposure, focusing (in reverse), and composing all must take place before pushing the shutter button. Yet, Vivian Meier was able to shoot more film in afternoon than many of us shoot in a month. And her results? Well, like I said, do some research.

Of course, my prime objective was to have fun and do the best I could to make some quality photographs. And I did. At least the fun part. The photos? I like them. That's all that matters to me.

All photos were home processed and scanned on an Epson V500 using the Epson software.

Photographed it and rode to the top. Kodak Ektar 100

The ferry ride to Bainbridge Island was great. Kodak Ektar 100

Double self portrait with Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass. Kodak Portra 160.

Flowers outside our Foos River cabin. Kodak Portra 160.

Stacked rocks along Deception Creek. Kodak Tri-X 400.

Hotel, Skykomish, WA. Kodak Tri-X 400.

The Great Northern & Cascade Railway, Skykomish, WA. Kodak Tri-X 400

Totem Pole, Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA. Kodak Tri-X 400.

The Problem with Plastic

L-R) FPP Debonair 120, Holga 120N, Kodak 
Brownie Hawkeye Flash, and Windsor

Plastic has been in the news a lot lately. It's hard not to be disturbed by photographs of plastic-surfaced ocean water pollution that immediately cause me to think about just how much cheap plastic we use once and throw away, thinking that it will simply dematerialize into nonexistence rather than end up in a landfill or, worse, a place of beauty and pleasure.

In no way do I mean to make light of the serious problem described above, but I have a cheap plastic problem of a different sort, and it involves - you guessed it - cheap plastic cameras. Now, admittedly, owning only four cheap plastic cameras may not sound like much of a problem to those of you who own a closet full of them, but perhaps you should remember when you only had four (and look at how you are now, buried in a sea of plastic.) It was only a few months ago when I had none, so perhaps this is a good time for intervention before it is too late.

The problem is that, even though I own much more intricate, useful, and expensive cameras with famous names we all know, I am somehow drawn to the lowly-but-charming cheap plastic box camera - the underdog of the photography world. "Hey, these guys can make great photographs, too! No, really!" And the truth is that actually, they can.

A member of the Chattanooga Pipe and Drum 
Band, captured with my Debonair 120

I started my cheap plastic camera collection with the Debonair 120 from the Film Photography Project, which shoots 120 film in 6x4.5 cm format. I like this camera a lot. It's great for portraits, because when it is focused at a close subject, the lens is sharper than what you would expect. I think it makes better quality photographs than the stalwart cheap plastic camera, the Holga 120N (which I acquired shortly after getting the Debonair. However, I like the Holga for the square 6x6 cm negatives and the strong vignette effect.

Weathered Barn. Holga 120N

Drip Sand Castle, Panama City Beach, Florida. Kodak
Brownie Hawkie Flash

With my plastic camera obsession now in full swing, I set my sights on a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera, which is exactly the camera my parents bought when I was born. The camera is made from an early form of plastic called Bakelite, and it was so rugged a camera that it lasted into my teenage years before disappearing. I found an original version with the metal film winding knob, and it always gets noticed when I shoot with it.

At this point I thought I had all the plastic I needed, until I saw a slide at my family's recent reunion (see the previous post). In this slide, I and my twin brother, Kelley, are approximately eleven years old, and we standing next to our six year old younger brother, Michael. We are posed next to the tracks of one of Chattanooga's former railroad terminals. Michael and I are holding cameras - cheap plastic cameras with blue tops. (Note:  I have lost the digital version of this image, but as soon as I can make another one, I will update this post with it.)

As soon as the slide appeared on the screen, I knew that I had seen that camera recently at a Chattanooga antique store, so the next day, Debbie and I went and bought it for $18. It is called the Windsor, and it came with the original box, strap, and lens cap.

 

After some research, I learned that is was one of several Diana clones made in the 1960's by the Great Wall Plastic Factory of Hong Kong. It shoots small square images on 120 film, and someday I'll shoot a roll with it. Now my plastic cameras number four.

I've given it some thought, and I think my "obsession" with cheap plastic cameras has to do with having pure fun with photography, and also I think a lot about the challenge of trying to make quality images with less than quality equipment. Using a camera like these puts the emphasis on the seeing and not the thinking. Give one a try!

Uncle Jonesy's Slides

My mom's side of the family had our annual gathering in the Chattanooga area. A fun day of food, fellowship, swimming, and honor was had by all, but one of the most enjoyable moments took place in the evening when we gathered in my cousin's living room for an old fashioned slide show with some of the hundreds of slides that my Uncle Jonesy took over nearly a forty year period of time. We focused on the slides of family, and the joy of seeing childhood or teenage photographs of many of us in the room was pure joy and elicited much laughter. My brother, Kelley, and I took turns operating the vintage Argus projector, just as we did when we were kids. After showing a number of trays, I announced that the slideshow must come to an end as we had to go, and their was a collective groan of disappointment in the room.

Earlier in the day my brother, who had brought the entire collection of slides, two projectors, screen, and projector table, asked if I would take possession of the collection for awhile, as he and his wife were getting ready to move to a new house.

I agreed, and now the collection is in the upstairs bedroom/office in my house. Whenever I see it, I am so thankful that Jonsey took the time, effort, and expense to create a tangible history of our family and his travels. It’s a treasure.

Obviously, there is a lot of photography here, and my brother and I are making plans to systematically scan every slide and make it available for viewing in one handy site. More on that later.

Since you are reading this blog, I will assume that photography is something in which you have some level of interest. I believe that we photographers have a calling to capture and preserve life as it happens by showing up with a camera and using it with an eye toward the future. Somewhere down the line, there will be those who think of you and be very grateful for what you have down with your camera. Families make history. It’s up to us to capture it.

New Home for Carter Dog

For about seven years now, my wife and I have been happy grandparents to a granddog, whose name is Darlin.’ My oldest daughter, Megan, recused her from a Nashville shelter when Darlin’ was eight months old, and she has been a much-loved member of our family ever since. She’s a great dog and truly loves her mother and her G-Mommy and G-Daddy. We cherish every visit she makes at our house.

This spring, Megan noticed that her next-door neighbors were keeping a dog all day long outside in a crate much to small. Megan was heartbroken by seeing the dog day after day in such conditions and eventually decided to act. So, one day she gathered up some cash, knocked on the door of the house, and offered to buy the dog. The neighbors accepted Megan’s offer, and suddenly we became grandparents to Carter Dog.

We got to meet Carter shortly afterward and found him to be a large, happy, and rambunctious, ten month old puppy who loved to play and be loved. In fact, he pretty much demanded total attention constantly. I was hard not to like him, but he was a lot of dog.

Now looking for a flash bracket.

We soon learned that Megan had planned to take a month long cross country trip, eventually visiting our other daughter, Amber, in Seattle, and that we would be needed to keep the granddogs while she traveled. My wife, Debbie, and I are both school teachers, and summer is usually when we get the hell out of town. However, we agreed to help out, knowing that we also could do some much needed home repairs while we kept the granddogs. However, it soon was clear that Carter was not a perfect fit, as he needed lots of space, especially outdoors with a fence. It was Megan’s original intention to find Carter a new home eventually, but naturally, she had become attached to this goofy dog. After talking it over with Megan, we decided to try to rehome Carter.

I created a Facebook post and some Craigslist ads with photos I had shot using my newly-acquired Rolleicord Vb. I really want to get handy with this camera that is so different from all the SLR’s I have used in my life. I used some Kodak Ektar 100 and processesed it at home using the Unicolor C-41 kit from the Film Photography Project Store. For the indoor shots, I used  a Vivitar 252 flash unit, which has its own PC cord attached. I didn’t have a way of mounting the flash to the Rolleicord, so I simply handheld both the camera and the flash, not knowing at all what the results would be. Actually, I was really pleased with the results, and I am looking for a flash bracket for the Rolleicord.

We had Carter for over a month before we took him to his new home. Wouldn’t you know it? I found that I, too, had fallen for this lovable goofball. I think of him every day and truly miss him. However, I know he is happy in his new home and being loved by the couple who are his new parents.

I urge you to take photos of your pets, or your grown children’s pets. You will never regret having them as treasured reminders of these furry family members.

Happy 4th of July from Uncle Jonesy's Cameras!

American Independence Day is special for many reasons beyond the historical event it celebrates,  but for me, it will always be associated with the intersection of family and picnic. This is because July 4th was “Camp Dixie Day,” my family's yearly celebration of, well, family. I was blessed to have a large extended family on my mother's side, and while we saw a lot of them often, due to the fact that most of the lived in the Chattanooga area, July 4th was a day my brother, Kelley, and I looked forward to all year. The whole family would gather at a picnic facility owned by and named after Dixie Yarns where my Aunt Claire worked as a secretary. There would be swimming, miniature golf, fried chicken/macaroni and cheese/baked beans (killer combo), and general good times.

My great uncle, Charles, with grandson. 

Of course, no Camp Dixie Day would be complete without Uncle Jonesy taking lots of snapshots with his camera. He used an Argus Autronic always with slide film. A lot of the time he shot Kodachrome, but because he worked for 3M in Chattanooga, he also shot a lot of Scotch Chrome, an E-6 slide film that was made by Ferrania. It wasn’t the best film to begin with, and now decades later,  the colors have faded considerably. The Kodachrome slides, however, looks just as good today as they did the day we first viewed them

I don’t have to tell you how important and cherished these photographs are to both my remaining family members and those who have come along since. Uncle Jonesy used his camera to preserve our favorite family memories on film, and in doing so, fostered a love of photography that remains with me today. As I journey into new stages of my life, I now see this is how loved ones remain with us even when they are no longer with us.

My wife, Debbie, and our two daughters, along with (L to R) Uncle Jonesy,
Aunt Claire, and Ruth and John, my grandparents, July 4, 1996 at
Camp Dixie. 

So please, get out your camera today and capture your family’s moments. And while you are at it, take some time to show some children how your camera works and pass on your passion for photography. Years later, some kid will remember you for it.