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October 01, 2008
Of strong cameras and prone models
In the first studio, on the gloss red floor, lay Sue Flynn.
On a chair, on a table, stood the photographer – me in this instance.
The set up wasn’t as steady as it could have been and the phrase Health & Safety had yet to reach the point where it challenged creativity. Looking through the viewfinder of the camera, vertically down onto the prostrate Sue, didn’t help my balance either.
The camera was fixed to a strap on my wrist – or at least I thought it was, for during a serious sideways shift of my centre of gravity and an attempt on my part to maintain my balance and not join Sue unnecessarily quickly, the camera fell.
Fortunately it didn’t land on Sue, instead it hit the edge of the table, springing the back open, and proceeded onwards to the floor.
I jumped down, closed the back and it snapped shut with a reassuring click. I looked over the camera for any other breakages.
Now they made cameras out of brass in those days [as well as other metals and glass obviously] and Nikon were renown for sturdy cameras. [Though not as sturdy as Zenit, who made their cameras out of old Russian tanks.] The camera was, to all appearance fine apart from a large dint in the base plate. I wound the film on a couple of frames and carried on shooting.
The processed film had a couple of spoilt frames but no more, and I carried on using the camera until a couple of years ago when I got the D200. I suspect if I dropped said D200 onto the corner of a table from 2 metres if wouldn’t fare so well.
Posted by john at October 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Comments
My digital camera glided slowly to the floor, cushioned by my handbag, when someone knocked into me on Eurostar in the summer. It was broken. And it was only three weeks old. They don't make things like they used to.
Posted by: Daphne at October 2, 2008 08:23 PM