State of the (Photo) Nation

So it's been a while since I did one of these where I go over what camera's I've been using lately.

I am extremely sad to report that my beloved Canon AE-1 is no more. This winter it completely tanked on me and a camera repair guy informed me that its a fault of the circuitry that makes the AE-1 so popular (it was the first camera with a built in CPU, historic!!), and that it would cost and unholy amount to fix. So with that ends the chapter of my (well it was my dad's) first old camera that I've taken everywhere. It's been to more places than I've ever been and it died a distinguished, painless death of old age. RIP.

This, with the inexplicable sudden death of my Yashica Electro 35 in Japan, and the ridiculous, crippling light leak and light meter failure (meaning camera failure) of my Yashica ME-1 left the state of my photographic house in severe state of disarray.

However, with the total and utter failure of these machines also came the opportunity to re-collect junk and rebuild a set up different from my ADD induced, too-many-camera's-than-I-know-what-to-do-with set up that I previously possessed. I had the opportunity to start new with some camera's that required me to think differently and focus(pun!) on what I really wanted from a camera.

I decided to settle on the cheapest possible decent rangefinder I could find for a 35mm camera, and just one camera. I dont think it's a good idea to shoot with more than 2 different cameras of the same format because you become too fragmented and never get any good with any one of them. So after some searching I found a this little Yashica minister III (seriously, this is my 5th Yashica) for really cheap and It's been treating me real good. It's an eccentric little thing with the most bizzare light meter, but I've been having fun with it and I got some pictures I really like with it.



Medium format has always interested me and I've wanted a medium format camera more than anything. After month after month of looking for a medium format camera, I finally snagged this incredible Bronica ETRSi for a very decent deal. It shoots 4x5, which isnt my ideal situation (6x6) but after one roll I've had some pretty good results and I cant wait to see what I can get with some Ektar 100 in it.





Viva Film!