Fearless.

103 floors up, 1,353 feet down.

I have something in common with this kid. No, it's not that we both enjoy a good Capri Sun or we are proud wearers of Sponge Bob underoos, it's the fact that neither of us is afraid of heights. But our kindred spirit of fearlessness have different roots. He's not a afraid because he hasn't learned to be afraid yet. Most of our fears are based on past experiences and when you don't have many past experiences there just isn't much that scares you.

Where as my lack of fear is based on the naive belief that surely this 1-1/2-inch-thick piece of glass will hold me and the 10 other Chicago deep dish pizza stuffed tourists wedged into the deck and a prayer that the architect that designed this structure didn't party too hard in college and sleep through his early morning classes on load-bearing glass panels and how to use them. Seriously, have you watched that Engineering Disasters show on the History Channel? I don't know how any building stays together. I'm never leaving the ground floor again.

Blue Dodge Pickup.

Another image shot using actual film. That's two in a row! I think this whole newfangled film thing could really catch on. I'm predicting that within 10 years, film will completely overtake digital in the market place. Mark my words!

Ol' Chair.

Lately, I've noticed everyone has been using these apps on their iPhones and other smart gadgets that make their photos look all vintage like. This phenomenon seems to go against everything people have wanted from their digital images over the past couple of years. When I first started selling digital cameras in 2000, the major knock on the cameras were their graininess and lack of detail. Fast forward ten years and technology has improved so much that digital images are nearly flawless. Digital imagery has become so perfect that people yearn for the imperfections of the past. They miss the happy accidents that the old cameras and film provided. So do I.

Now, I don't have a smart gadget to help mimic the "look" of the vintage cameras. But, I do have the next best thing... actual film AND a vintage camera. This is from a test roll I put through my new 56 year-old Zorki 1C Rangefinder. This camera has been occupying a bookcase for the past couple of years until I recently photographed it for a previous blog update. A friend saw the blog and asked why I wasn't shooting with the Zorki as it seemed to be in pretty good shape. The only reason I could think of was laziness. Digital imaging has made me lazy and impatient when it comes to photography. I am so used to the instant gratification that my digital camera has given me that I forgot what it was to wait for something to develop. The fact that I had to wait 5 hours before I could actually look at my test roll from this camera nearly gave me an ulcer. But sometimes the wait makes the result even sweeter. Something about this process made me feel like I was much more involved than just pressing a button and watching it appear instantly on a screen. I actually felt like I'd created the image and not the camera. When I picked up the negatives fromt he photo-lab there was a sense of joy that I have not experienced in quite a while with my photography. I think it's something that I'm going to have to make a habit out of.

Jaomi's Camaro.

1967 Camaro RS

When a paint job looks this good, you know the car is going to be fast.

Like-a-Leica.

Zorki 1-c 1950-1956

This is a Russian Leica clone from the early 50's. Those kooky ruskies didn't really care too much about that whole international copyright thing so much. In Soviet Russia you don't photograph camera, camera photograph you!

Instant Gratification.

Polaroid Swinger 1965-1970


Somehow naming a camera the Swinger seemed like a good idea to the folks at Polaroid. It's not surprising however that there were other failed name ideas before they settled on Swinger. Bad ideas such as The Polaroid French Tickler, The Polaroid Gigolo, The Polaroid Hussy and The Polaroid Debbie (which was an apparent merchandise tie-in with the smash hit Debbie Does Dallas) just to name a few.