Oh, the cars, the steel, the chrome, the details!
The hubby and I decided to go to a classic car show a couple of weeks ago at the Hard Rock Casino here in Hollywood, FL. I thought it was a great idea because I hadn’t been out shooting film in a while and needed some eye candy for inspiration. I checked the film drawer in the fridge just to realize I had only one roll of 120 film and no 35mm though! Oh, the conundrum! Out of film; is this even possible? I do need to place an order, but things have been tight, so I have yet to do so, so I’ve been getting by on rolls that I’ve received in swaps of camera gear, film, etc. from fellow flickr-ites.
Now I figure that there must be a roll in one of the 60+ cameras I have laying around, so I proceed to check. There it is, in the quirky old beast that is the Argus C-3…but I figure it’s an appropriate camera since it’s more than likely 1950s vintage and many of the cars I will see will be around the same age…perfect! I also loaded up the 1940s Rolleiflex with the one remaining roll of 120.
We get to the Hard Rock and once we finally figure out how to get to the show from the parking lot, it is amazing! There are beautiful concours worthy automobiles from every maker and every era. Oh, the eye candy, now I was truly inspired!
Tropical Bug
I shot many makes and models and came up with quite a few images from the old C-3 that I really like. I have yet to develop the roll out of the Rollei, but should be getting to that one soon.
DeLorean DMC-12
All of the shots are in the Transportation section on my website here: Transportation Gallery on AnalogSoulPhoto.com
1940 Ford Coupe
Vivian Maier and Rolleiflex Inspiration
In recent months, I have been in a little “slump” in my photographic adventures. Luckily, in October when I took a driving trip to see my family in Virginia, my father gave me a Koni Omega Rapid (oddball medium format), Graflex Crown Graphic (large format), and a Rolleiflex Automat (twin lens reflex) to use! He’s always been good like that and I think that seeing me getting back into film photography made him want to hand these off to someone to use again…they were just sitting in drawers in their dank basement.
Goodies from Dad 😉
I got home with these new gems and was getting some great inspiration just by having these cameras in my hot little hands. Upon my return, I was on flickr catching up and someone had posted about a photographer by the name of Vivian Maier from Chicago that had just been “discovered” after her passing. He made mention of her use of a Rolleiflex and this really intrigued me. I found more information on the web about her shooting through many decades with her Rollei and that there were thousands of rolls of film found of hers. There were two major things that made me very interested in her; the fact that she was a woman photographer in a time when it was very male dominated, and that she used a Rolleiflex camera rather than a more “dainty” 35mm or other smaller camera that a typical woman of the era would.
"A Seat on South Beach" shot with Rolleiflex Automat
I came to read about her, watch videos and see her story explode across the internet. What a find this John Maloof had come across! Thoughts of her falling into obscurity went through my mind and made me so thankful that John had the wisdom to see the great value of this woman’s images and the story of her life. There is now a display of her work and a couple of her cameras in Chicago…makes me really want to go there to see it and the place that she had called home for so much of her life.
"Boca Grande Light III" shot with Rolleiflex Automat
Now this Rolleiflex that my father had entrusted me with had so much more meaning to me. It started with a fascination of the German engineering of a machine that was made around WWII and now the added interest of a mid century woman photographer having used a very similar camera. I can’t wait to use the camera more and watch the incredible story of this amazingly talented woman photographer unfold.
"Boca Grande Light II" shot with Rolleiflex Automat
Analog Soul Photography 