In Which Kelly Shoots a Brownie

Log Cabin (from film), originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

The Kodak Brownie Six-20 was introduced in 1946. It originally retailed for about $6 and I bought mine in an antique shop 62 years later for $10.

After cleaning the viewfinder (1/4" x 1/8") of six decades of grunge, I marveled that the glass surfaces had a rippled appearance. There are only two focal setting on the camera: "5-10 FEET" and "Beyond 10 FEET".

Some internet research presented a starting point for the fixed aperture and shutter speed, so I carried my Nikon along to help me determine if a shot was possible at f/11 and 1/100/sec.

There were only eight exposures on the roll of 620 film. You'd think I would have quickly filled the roll, but I found myself agonizing over each shot. Checking and rechecking the light, composing and recomposing the shot, learning to ignore color when evaluating a scene. It actually took three days to settle on those eight frames.

Sadly, the park district darkroom was not equipped to handle medium format film. I had to settle for printing the middle third of each frame, but I kind of like the blurred distortion at the upper edges.

Next, the Canon AE-1...