The Camera Collection

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Some years ago I decided to start a film camera collection.

Not only to be the happy owner of interesting objects but also to use them and try to bring them to life again.

I focused on the twentieth century and I decided to concentrate on roll film instead of plate or instant cameras.

Since January 2012 I acquired and photographed more than 500 different film cameras. 

I call it the FLASHBACK project.

As most people in my generation I have been shooting cameras since childhood. The only camera I can recall from the early days is a Yashica TLR in the sixties.

In 1969 I bought a Pentax Spotmatic, during a stay in Africa, and I used it a lot for the next 30 years. Since 2002, I have been using digital cameras.

More then one hundred cameras in my collection were born before me and, in some cases have been around for 100 years or more. The cameras came from all over the world and I just cannot image what they have seen in their lives.

Now, when I shoot them, it’s a bit like showing my habitat to them. In the last five years I photographed basically the places I usually live in (see what I did below this text).

When you have at your disposal a number of cameras you had always wanted, but never could afford, in a way you are building a new past. After 50 years of taking pictures I am willing to live a new photographic life, bringing my old cameras back to life.

I started the collection with the feeling that film photography was disappearing and the opportunity to practice it would not last for long.

Now I feel I started something that will be with me until the end of my life.

Fernando Penim Redondo

Cameras and Sample Shots

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