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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Photography and Christmas

Lots of opportunities for photography during the winter holidays.  But what about lighting? I remember the big bowl shaped flash reflector especially from my Dad's dad's camera: bleary-eyed, early-morning gift opening and those flashes were bright like lightning.  A new flash bulb was required for every shot - and they were pretty hot to the touch so it wasn't like you could swap them speedily.  But maybe Grandpa thought they were pretty spiffy because it sure beat using explosive powder to produce artificial lighting - check out this brief history of photographic flash photography.

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)
From Vintage Goodness
Kodak had a significant role in amateur photography - according to Kodak's timeline, the Instamatic line was introduced in 1963 and quickly became a huge success.  A December 1966 ad makes helpful gift suggestions for those who already have one

From Vintage Goodness


My dad was pretty excited to give my mom her own Kodak Instamatic camera in the early 70's
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)
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.
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4 comments:

  1. HozNovember 26, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    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.

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  2. JanaNovember 26, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    Thanks for the info, Dad. What camera were you using back then?

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  3. HozNovember 26, 2011 at 4:27 PM

    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.

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  4. HozDecember 27, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    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.

    ReplyDelete