Overall, I felt that 2019 was just so-so regarding my creative interests. I may write more about that later, but I first want to mention that one area that flourished for me was my interest in and practice with film photography.
As I mentioned in my Top Nine Instagram Photos of 2019 post, I ended the year having taken over 900 film photos. I took more than that so that 900+ represents just the ones that were at least good enough to add to Flickr. Add to that the three rolls taken in 2019 that are waiting to be developed.
So, yes, quite a busy year for my film photography.
One clear piece of evidence of this interest is my growing collection of film cameras. I never set out to be a collector, but I guess I am since I now have 10 film cameras. At the beginning of 2019, I had 5. I only started getting interested in film mid-way through 2017 so the collection has grown rather quickly.
I added 2 cameras in the past couple of months that I haven’t mentioned. One I bought for myself, and one was a gift from Holly.
Once I bought my Minolta Hi-Matic 11 back in October, I thought I was done getting any more cameras. I felt that among the cameras I then owned, my interests were pretty well covered: 3 SLRs, a Twin Lens Reflex, a Rangefinder.
But there were a couple of lesser interests that remained unaddressed. One curiosity I have is with half-frame cameras. To that end, I bought an Olympus Pen-EE.
Another interest is in 110 cameras. I grew up using 110 cameras and although they aren’t know for their quality, a nostalgic part of me wanted to get my hands on one. I found one on Etsy that appealed: a Minolta Autopak 450Ex. Luckily, Holly knew of my interest and got it for me for Christmas.
I have shot a roll in the Olympus Pen-EE and half a roll in the Minolta. I’m still waiting to get the former developed and hope to have the results soon.
My 10 film cameras include:
- Lomography Diana F+ (May 2017)
- Canon EOS Rebel 2000 (June 2017)
- Minolta XE (April 2018)
- Flexaret VII (September 2018)
- Canon AE-1 (February 2019, a gift from a friend!)
- Olympus OM-1 (February 2019, also a gift from that same friend!)
- Pentacon Six TL (May 2019)
- Minolta Hi-Matic 11 (October 2019)
- Olympus Pen-EE (November 2019)
- Minolta Autopak 450Ex (December 2019, a gift from Holly!)
I also have 2 digital cameras:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (June 2018)
- Olympus TG-5 (November 2018)
I also once owned a Canon EOS Rebel T3 which I donated once I got my Mark IV. And, of course, I have my phone camera, a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus.
I know I said I thought before that I was done buying any more cameras but then quickly got 2 more. But now I’m more sure that I will be taking a break from getting any more in the near future.
I have a few cameras I haven’t used much. Since getting the Hi-Matic and the Olympus Pen, I have shot only 1 roll in each. And I’m still working on the roll in the Minolta 110. I also have shot only 1 roll in the Flexaret since fixing it.
I really want to get more practice with the cameras I have before getting anything else.
I’m not ruling out and impulsive purchases, but I do want to focus my practice on the nice range of cameras I currently own.
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