Tuesdays with Nate | Vintage Cameras, Family, and Film
Most of you regulars know that I’ve taken to collecting vintage cameras. A big part of that is, actually let’s just attribute all of it to, my dad. We were visiting my family in St. Augustine a while back, and like normal my family busted out all sorts of embarrassing pictures of me. One of those pictures happened to have great lighting and a nice background blur, so naturally I asked, “What was this taken with?” To which my dad, after rummaging around in his closet for a minute, said, “This” and handed me a shoebox with an Olympus OM-1 inside. A few months later, when my dad asked what I wanted for Christmas, I told him I wanted a medium format camera. So for Christmas I got a Yashica D twin lens, and a month later for my birthday he got me an Argus C-44 Rangefinder and an Exacta G 35mm (1950s from Dresden Germany). On our last trip home for my nephews birthday, there was another box of goodies waiting for me: several Brownie box cameras and a fairly new Polaroid SX-70. That on top of Becka’s newest aquisition, her vintage Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, and we’ve got quite a collection going now.
I shot some frames while Ian and I were brewing beer and last week we took the Yashica and Olympus out to DeLeon Springs in DeLand and Becka did an amazing job on her first try using a manual film camera.
Brewing Beer | Fujicolor Pro 160 on the Yashica D by me:


DeLeon Springs | Fujicolor Pro 160 on the Yashica D by Becka:


These images have not been retouched at all. We just scanned them into the computer from the prints we got from the lab and sized them for the blog. Becka is kind of in love with the natural tones of the color film and refuses to mess with them. It has a quality you just can’t replicate in photoshop. But as great as all the cameras are, the real joy for me has been spending time with my family, finding something new to bond over, and sharing in the excitement with each other. Using the cameras isn’t too bad either. I know Becka has been feeling a bit guilty that we don’t take many personal photos of our life, and she’s enjoying shooting more day to day with these new (old) toys. Hopefully we’ll build up a nice collection of images for our future children and grandchildren to look through and mock us about. I wish it hadn’t taken so long for me to realize how valuable my family can be, and how valuable they are to me, but I’ve definitely started taking advantage of every opportunity to spend time with them. Was there something that happened with you that made you really start to appreciate your family?
Also, we have a bit of a problem now. We’ve got two boxes worth of cameras and camera bits and no where to put them. Becka is imagining a guest room makeover with one of those super long floating shelves from ikea to show off all these bad boys. Do you have any good display ideas? They’re just too sexy to keep boxed up.
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PS. We’re currently updating our portfolio website so if you’ve noticed anything quirky happening on the blog, website, or anything like that, don’t worry. We’re just getting stuff moved around and will be launching the made-over site soon.





















@Andrea Yup! The impossible project sells film for them: http://shop.the-impossible-project.com/shop/film/sx70
Becka – I totally agree! I’ve been coveting an SX 70 for awhile now, but have been worried about being able to acquire film. Have you solved this dilemma?
@Andrea There really is an unmistakeable quality to film… the risk of ruining it, the waiting to see what turns out, the physical property of the image once it’s on paper. It’s a bit magical.
I love this post, and learning more about you and your family! My love for photography comes from my dad, and I love that it is a bond that we share still today.
I had a vintage Mamiya M645 medium format camera and a plethora of lenses that I sold a couple of years ago. Man oh man, do I regret it now! My photography obsession started in high school, with film, and I really miss spending all day in a dark room developing prints. Digital is fantastic and convenient and has endless possibilities, but there is something so tactile and mysterious about film…
@Chad Yeah, we did that last time, but it’s kind of expensive and it helps us save a bit to just scan them in ourselves. The results are similar to what we get back on disc from the lab.
You know you can have the lab take your images straight to digital. Although maybe you are looking for the effect of scanned prints =)
Beautiful post Mr. Nate…. I am sooooo happy thinking about life and family and you being a part of it!!!! I, we are truely blessed!!!!!!