amdavidson

A Wedding and an Old Camera

posted on 2010-07-01 - amd.im/ZlWr

A couple weeks ago I found a Graflex 22 at an estate sale. Last weekend I had a wonderful opportunity to use it, the wedding of Jeff and Stacey LaBarge.

The Graflex is an interesting piece. It is over 50 years old and doesn't look a day over 10. Don't get me wrong, you can see signs of use in the leather case, and it had a thick layer of dust. But there is no dust or fungus in the lens, the foams all look good, and the shutter seems to operate smoothly and consistently.

The Graflex has never had the cachet of a Rollei or Mamiya TLR, but I am impressed with this little camera. It's my first TLR, my first camera with no light meter, and my first square format camera. With all those firsts I think I managed to squeeze out a pretty good roll. I had a bit of a back-focusing problem, I'm going to need to do some bright daylight trials to see if that's operator error or not.

The wedding went off without a hitch, they had a great ceremony in a beautiful part of the state. It was great to be a part of it and I wish Jeff and Stacey the best in their new lives together.