But then came the flash cube - you could shoot four consecutive photos! Photography was getting easier and easier.
"When a man decides to shoot visiting relatives he can't afford to miss." (December 1966 ad)
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| From Vintage Goodness |
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| From Vintage Goodness |
My dad was pretty excited to give my mom her own Kodak Instamatic camera in the early 70's
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| From Visiting Vintage |
He had been in to photography since he was a teenager - he worked after school at a camera store in Bremerton. He was thrilled to get photography equipment for his darkroom at Christmas (I think this is a dryer)
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| From Visiting Vintage |
Dad gave me darkroom equipment for Christmas when I also showed interest in the hobby in high school. I won a small TV in a photography contest about the same time but it wasn't with my "real" camera (I had an Argus C3 and a Minolta 101) it was with my mom's Instamatic above - I put my sunglasses over the lens and shot a sailboat photo into the sun.
And then for several years, my parents were the Santa photographers at Factoria Square Mall.
You can't see very clearly but he used a Mamiya for the portrait photos - families had to return to the mall to pick up their prints or have their packages mailed to them. He also used a high quality Polaroid so families could take one with them.
My parents occasionally still do photography professionally. We both have Nikons now - his is far fancier than mine! While I enjoy photography year round - it holds particularly fond memories for me at Christmas.
4 comments:
Comment on the Dryer. In those days it was called a Ferrotype dryer. You would squegie (sp?) a wet photo on the surface and dry it with heat to get a glossy surface. I started out with a chrome sheet that looked like a cookie sheet and would dry the prints with a hair dryer.
Thanks for the info, Dad. What camera were you using back then?
I Started in 1948 with a Brownie twin lens reflex. In about 1951 I went to a german made 35mm, Brand name Regula and then in Sr High I traded with my brother for a German man 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 folding camera which I still have on display in my camera museum. Also while In high school I was able to borrow the schools 4 x 5 Crown Graphic of which I also Have a same model on display. After I came back from the service in 1962 I moved up to a Minolta single lens reflex. in the 80's I went pro and moved up to a Mamiya 645.
In the 90's went to a Manolta semi pro model and then in 2000 the digital age came about.
I believe the first year we did the Factoria Santa was 1981. Factoria had wanted us to upgrade the Santas, so we brought in Warren Mitchel and Max Lomax with real beards. We started stealing business away from Bell Square and the next year they had real beards. Our last year was 1985, when it was passed to Rainbow Photo.
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