The Stylus on Kodak Autographic Cameras is almost always missing. Found this on eBay. Located in Spokane, Washington. Arrived today!
Not my photograph – I can’t improve on this.
Today’s Treasures #3
Category: Photography
Today’s Treasures #2
This Portrait, aka Close Up Attachment, fits my 1925 era No.2 Kodak Brownie Model F. Instead of a fixed focus distance of 8 ft. and beyond, it allows photographs at a distance of about a meter. Which suits a head and shoulders portrait.
Found it, the only one I could find, on eBay, in a vintage camera shop in the Netherlands. USPS, in cooperation with NL Post, delivered today. Original printed instructions, from 100 + years ago were in the tiny box. In French. No problem!
My Black Friday
Fits my 1925 Kodak Brownie Model F. Shipping from the Netherlands.
Fits my Kodak No. 1 Junior Autographic with f7.7 Anastigmat 110mm lens. Shipping from Medina, Ohio.
Thankful
The luxury of age is time, without demands. Today, while still surfacing from a nasty head cold and long before my slow cooker of really good collards are ready, I played a DVD of the Cary Ballet Conservatory Recital of June 2016, “Anastasia”.
I have it because I made a courtesy head shot of the Videographer, Jeff Philips at InFocusStudios. Watching it today, reminded me of just how lucky I was to find the right place for me, as a photographer. And it dusted off my memory, remembering their stories and families. I was extraordinarily lucky.
These two will renew your faith in humanity. And danced, wonderfully!
Oldie But Goodie
Found on eBay in Vancouver, WA. and delivered today (seller’s photo) Purchased for parts. Had one in better condition but someone (for good reason) had swapped out the Autographic Back. Ironically, this one had it’s original back swapped for an Autographic Back. I’ve restored balance to the Cosmos!
Kodak made these from 1914 to 1924, producing about 800 thousand. This Model, with the f7.7 Anastigmat lens, was $15 (about $478 today). The good part is, 120 film is still readily available. And explains my 4 rolls of Ektar 100 in the fridge. Yep, very fine grain color film in a camera designed for orthochromatic Black & White. It could work!
An original manual, dated June 1917, confirmed the number of the optional Portrait Attachment (3), essentially a diopter lens. Add to the camera’s lens and minimum focus distance is reduced from 8 ft. to 3 1/2 ft. with the 110mm lens. So, a head and shoulders portrait, like a head shot. Found one on eBay today, in the original metal case with instructions. Bought it. In today’s dollars, I paid the same as the 1917 price of fifty cents.
Stay tuned for the test shoot results before year end!
The ABC’s
This is Public Domain and widely available for free as a PDF and ePUB. But there is something intimate across 100+ years, holding and reading a book.
Found this on eBay. About the same as a fast food meal but more satisfying.
One Day +23 + 89 Years Later…
Today, the Post Office delivered this eBay purchased, hard cover, Library Version, Twentieth Edition. Published in 1935. Tres moderne!
The Dewey Decimal (pre ISBN number) “770” was still on the spine, from the East Craftsbury, Vermont “John Woodruff Simpson” Memorial Library.
The book’s content, excepting the Kodak product pitches, isn’t very far from what I taught in my Basic Photography and Lighting Courses for the Towns of Cary & Clayton Parks & Rec..
2024 “Smartphone” users could learn from it! And “Make Good Pictures” 😉
Today’s Treasure
Today, the Post Office delivered this eBay purchased, soft cover version. It is, undated. Driven by curiosity and enabled by the freedom of time, found it’s a 1912 first edition! Shown above in a 1913 Kodak Advertisement contract directive, found at Eastman.org.
Which partially explains the Kodak No.1 Portrait Attachment for my Brownie No. 2 Model F that I found and bought on eBay today from a shop in the Netherlands. Been searching for weeks!
I’m guessing it’ll arrive about the same time as the new Melody Gardot CD that I pre-ordered. Good timing on my part! Before new tariffs on European goods 🙂
Front Door Moon Shot
Cary, North Carolina – 15 Nov. 2024
Made with new to me glass & camera (aka “Used”). The constant is a comfort.
A Walk In The Park III – Addendum
Yates Mill, long ago. Yesterday there was no Dam overflow as we’re missing about three inches of rain in the past month. And Fall is a few weeks late.
A Walk In The Park III – Revised
Visited the Pond Loop Trail today at Yates Mill. Fall is late -Monarch Butterfly on my Viburnum yesterday, no frost yet and none forecast in the next ten days.
My Plant ID is strictly amateur. Click images for full size.
Halloween Colors
Feeding on my patio Viburnum Blossoms today. Should be flying to Mexico
A Walk In The Park II
There is a 2 mile trail around the Lake at Bond Park in Cary. Today was weather so good – you had to be there. Click images for full size.
The Windows In Studio A #2
“Psyche and Eros”
Cary Ballet Conservatory “Prix Challenge” – 6 Aug 2022
FedEx is tomorrow, delivering four 20×16 Prints on my favored Fuji Deep Matte Paper. On 3/4″ mounts, ready for the float frames I ordered. This is one that I hope I got right.
Apartment Patio
Late afternoon visitors & sunset – 9 Oct0ber 2024
Forest Foray
Soft & Hard
Last week, I renewed my North Carolina Museum of Art Membership. Today, I visited. And walked around the West Building where I’ve photographed both personal portraits and a few boutique commercial sessions.
Hadn’t been in years. And discovered someone had relocated a rose blossom from the adjacent garden to this decorative, black concrete wall. Apropos.
Deja Vu III – We Are The World
3D Jazz Project Promo Session – Feb. 2019 – Cary Ballet Conservatory
Long, long ago, I was the resident Field Tech at NASA’s Glenn Research Center (nee Lewis Research Center) for the long gone, Digital Equipment Corporation.
Pretty sure the Scientists & Engineers & Techs I worked with, would approve.
The background image is NASA’s. The foreground is mine.
The photograph is all of us.
Queen Anne’s Lace
Roadside Drainage Ditch – Wake County, North Carolina – June 2014
Trumpet & Piccolos. Since turned into suburban “Lawn”.
Bramble Rose
Abandoned Lot – Wake County, North Carolina
Ten years later, it still resonates. Some things are beyond description.
Deja Vu II
The latest version of these prints shipped from my lab today. So did the Nielsen Profile 13 Float Frames that will mount & place them on my apt. wall.
I saw a Herb Ritts Exhibit at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, Oct. , 2016. Stuff you can’t make up – a 5 minute walk from our apt. in Marais.
Dry mounted prints on standouts in float frames. No glass or mattes. Nothing to get between the viewer and photograph. Meme chose.
Fellow Pedestrians
The reality of my age and lack of conditioning urged me to go walking a mile or so every other day, for awhile in my new hood, before I go back to the pool. Shared the road with this bunch today.
Colors of Change
Today’s hike at Hemlock Bluffs: Wildflower Garden and Swift Creek Loop Trail. Click images for larger size
Pas de Surf
Sanderlings – Kiawah Island – 3 Dec 2017
My extended Ballet family will get it!
Deja Vu
Perennial Sunflower & Eastern Tiger Swallowtail – Hemlock Bluffs – 5 Sept 2010
A Walk In The Park
Okay, a Nature Preserve. Where I went 16 years ago to practice and learn how to make photographs with the gear I had. Same as I did today with some new to me gear.
And try out ideas that I had no idea of the result. Knowing that a Digital Negative was just the beginning. Plus a good sweaty workout on about a mile of forest trail, humping 25 lbs of gear. A very good day.
Sunday At The Park
Had some new to me gear to get used to. On a gorgeous Fall preview day at a favorite place, Bond Park in Cary. There were Moms & Dads & Kids with Ice Cream. And Sunfish Sailing Lessons. And Mallard Ducks.
The lens I wanted to use, DHL is inexplicably holding nearby after arriving from Nagoya, Japan last Friday, until next Tuesday. So I used the lens I got for portraits. Made with a Pentax 645Z & FA 645 150MM f2.8
Lazy Daze 2024
Last time I attended was 2018, event coverage for “Cary Citizen”. Today, in gorgeous Fall preview weather, I found some old friends. And some old friends found me. Vitamins for the heart.
Lunch Order
Selling & moving forces a lot of decisions. My mental task list for the next week is full. Meanwhile, nutrition and sleep are still required. So are the tasks necessary to complete the transaction. An upside of my age is understanding the necessity of balance.
No Fooling – It’s A Wrap
If you landed here, surfing for any of my “Brooke Meyer” URLs, it’s not a mistake. Sunset my 14 year old event site today. It was time. The “About” page explains.
I can find any photograph that was published there, if you can tell me something about it.
Jewel Box
It was an excuse to get outdoors on a sunny, early spring day. Like today!
A car show. I think it was Don Bulluck Chevy in Rocky Mount. And I remember making this photograph. Had taught myself to be semi-competent with Manual Exposure! Probably, 2010.
And I remember this was in a Chevy Nova II. So ridiculously overpowered. The craft and care it took to build was clear for all to see.
It Ain’t Rocket Surgery
With some hours before the irresistible hoopla of the Super Bowl and desirous of no more examples of inhumanity in the global news, I surfed over to a camera forum dedicated to the brand I used in all my work.
A poster asked for help with the abysmal results he got from a newly purchased, expensive camera featuring the latest auto focus automation – in this case for birds (it’s always birds). It hit a nerve about a relatively recent eBay sale and the fallacious belief that automation will trump understanding and skill.
I made this 13 years ago, with #3 of 12 DSLRs I’ve used since. Hardly current technology.
The technique is straightforward. Reassign Focus from the Shutter button to a button on the back of the camera aka “Back Button Focus” – it’s free! Yes, it does require (horrors) reading a page of the manual. Or watch a You Tube video.
Set the focus function to “Continuous” (mfrs call it different names but it’s still a Rose). Leave it with a single center point . Then point at what you want in focus while holding the rear button with your thumb and track it. Mash the shutter button when you see what you want. Disclaimer: 60 to 80 K of Dancer images per year may result in a callous on your thumb.
Static subject, on a tripod? Just release the back button. Or change the focus mode to “Single”.
Back to eBay. I honestly listed a “Bargain” condition camera body with the real shutter count, some 6OK shy of the mfr. rating. A guy bought it and two hours after he picked it up, e-mailed me it was no good, couldn’t focus on birds in flight. I had set it to mfr defaults. But I’m pretty sure he didn’t read any of the manual.
I immediately refunded his purchase, realizing any explanation was pointless. He did return it. Kept it and another copy, as my retirement gear. Haven’t experienced any issues.
As for the birds, this from camera either #6 or #7 (always kept two of the same model), in 2014
A Modern Ms. Bennet
Jane Austen completed “Pride and Prejudice” in 1812. Last Sunday, I made this portrait of a modern devotee.
The J.C. Raulston Arboretum served as “Derbyshire”. It was the very first time I could “see”and abandoned what I’d planned.
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