I have photo albums of my early childhood that have many wonderful pictures in them, thanks to the diligent taking of snapshots by my father.
Dad was the photographer in my home. I don't recall mom ever taking a single photo, though she must have, since there are some of dad in there. That was both prophetic and ironic, prophetic in the sense that I took up an intense interest in photography in my 20's, even having my own B&W darkroom. Ironic in the sense that I don't have any time left for photography these days, but my wife has taken up the mantle as family photog and is doing wonderful keeping track of kids, friends, and, of course, our miniature schnauzers.
All of these 1960's images required a camera in the hands of the shooter. And today's column is about those very cameras, which I recall very well.
My photo albums featured numerous images that measured 5" x 3 1/2". These were all shot prior to 1967 with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. According to this site, the camera was manufactured between 1949 and 1961. It set my dad back $5.50 (retail). This workhorse documented the Enderland family throughout the 50's and the first half of the 60's.
In 1967, we went on an eagerly-anticipated trip to Canada for Expo 67. The old Hawkeye must have been showing its age by then, because dad sprang for a shiny new Kodak Instamatic 104 ($15.95 retail).
The Instamatic was far easier to load than the Hawkeye. You simply dropped in a film cartridge and closed the cover. Then, you advanced the film until you saw "1's" in the window on the back of the camera. You were now ready to shoot. Loading the Hawkeye involved unrolling 620 film and threading it through the mechanism (not too far!) onto a take-up roll and closing everything back up. Lots of potential for fubars there.
So beginning in 1967, my photo albums have3 1/2" square images in color.
Apparently, shooting color images with the Instamatic must have been considerably cheaper than with the Brownie.
The camera was a snap to use, and I was allowed to shoot the occasional pic with it at the age of seven. It used flashcubes, which were pretty cool items for a kid to play with. Combine a couple of spent-flashcube-satellites with a few radio tube spaceships and you had an hour or two of living-room-floor entertainment on a rainy day.
While digging through old boxes full of junk in the year that we moved to the country, 1969, I came across the Hawkeye. I remember it had a red-lensed window in the back that revealed the number of the picture being shot. The film had twelve exposures, as I recall. The window featured a little door you could close over it to prevent outside light from creeping into the camera.
Now nine, I asked for and received a couple of rolls of film (B&W, of course) to play with while learning how to shoot pictures. This resulted in this image of my father holding his newfangled Instamatic. I'm not sure whose '56 Chevy that was, but that is my oldest brother's cherry red Mustang. Notice the white paint on the tree to keep the borers away.
Reality check for your truly: my father in the photo is the same age that as I am now. (profound sigh)
Anyhow, I got a kick out of taking photos with the same camera that my dad used twenty years earlier. You could still purchase the 620 film back then. In fact, you can still shoot photos with the Brownie Hawkeye with 120 film (still commonly available) spooled onto 620 reels. Reloading Instamatic cartridges with 35mm film is also possible, but not nearly as easy. Needless to say, the days when you could run down to the Rexall Drug Store and buy film for either model are long gone.
But the photos that they shot live on. In fact, that digitized shot of my dad may last on someone's drive somewhere into the far distant future.
Comments (2)
By now you have undoubtedly surmised that I am an inveterate nitpicker and as such I would like to point out that the putative ’55 Chevy – my absolute favorite Chevrolet is actually a 1956 Chevy Bel Air. (Ed. note: now corrected) Anyway I enjoyed the memories of photography in the 60’s. I had a Kodak Duaflex 620 but after a few rolls of film and a brief course at summer camp in film developing I lost interest in photographing personally (in keeping with my Luddite personality.) I enjoy art photography and appreciate the skill involved but have no desire to capture emitted photons. As a result the only photographs I have of my children are taken by other than my wife and I; she is noted as a guillotine queen photographer as she invariably chops of the heads of her subjects.
Posted by Burt | August 14, 2008 12:41 AM
Posted on August 14, 2008 00:41
Oh my how can a boomer make a mistake on a 56 Bel Air, made by Chevy. The most classic of the classic cars are the '55, '56, and '57. Chevys. The '55 and the '57 are the most popular, but I learned to drive in a '56. I had one for several years, entered and won at Super Chevy. Had to sell it when the kids can around. (no seatbeats). I almost talked Dad and Mom into making me a basement darkroom when I was in grade school until they priced it. Now I get my fix on playing with pictures with my ditatal and photo software. Enjoy the memories, keep it up.
Posted by Linda | August 14, 2008 3:33 AM
Posted on August 14, 2008 03:33