
A friend of mine was recently given an old film camera by his mother who was cleaning out her attic. When he showed it to me, I was instantly flooded with nostalgia from my childhood–my mom loves to take pictures and I still remember my fascination from the days long before “digital” meant anything related to a camera. And with the same childlike curiosity, I snapped a few (poor quality) shots with it and decided I needed to rekindle this hobby.
Surprisingly, my parents didn’t have any cameras laying around so I started going to garage sales on Saturday mornings–which was fun in itself. I found an 80’s instant camera that I still can’t find any film for, and an amazing old Kodak Model 3A from the early 1900’s (which instantly became one of my prized possessions, and it was only $5!) but I didn’t come across any regular SLRs. Then, my aunt and uncle invited me over to take some things because they were moving, and my uncle gave me a great Pentax Super Program! I was so excited!
I’ve only shot a few rolls, and ruined 2 of them by prematurely opening the back of the camera, but I’m getting the hang of it and having so much fun. I’ve got a lot to learn, and hopefully I’ll be sharing my photography soon! In the meantime, here’s a good resource I’ve found for the basics.