the camera stuff does not matter and you should’nt care
1996- In high school I found a Minolta XG-1 at a garage sale, with a telephoto and 28mm lens for 50 dollars.
2001 it breaks in my begining photo class at the university. I buy a Minolta XE-7 off of ebay. The plastic on/off switch breaks minutes after getting it out of the box it was shipped to me in. I then bought a Nikon F2. Bought another Nikon F2. Traded one in towards a Nikon FM and MD12 motor drive. Went to Japan in September 2001. Traded FM+motor towards Nikon F4. It breaks down, but the store fixes it for me. Bought an Nikon F3Press. Sold the F4 and F3P (this was a mistake) and bought a month old used Bessa R2 in May of 2002. Shot with that for a while. Sold my XE-7. My F2 jams up in Feburary of 2003 and a month later the bessa R2 meets the sidewalk after falling from my shoulder. Frusterated and camera-less, I force the F2 advance winder in a fit of semi-anger. It clicks back into place and continues to work fine. Found a Canon Demi ee17 half frame camera at a thrift store. Bought a Leica CL with a non-functioning meter at a camera show in Omaha. I broke it at Mt. Rushmore in July of 2004. Bought a clean Nikon F soon after. Bought a Yashicamat 124G at a thrift store. Sold the F and Yashicamat at Map Camera in shinjuku in September 2004, and walked to Lucky Camera and promptly bought a Leica M6 TTL 0.58. Gave the busted CL to my friend Nara. My M6 ’s top plate came loose and popped up due to “gomi” in the advance lever gears, but the store fixed it for me a month past the warranty. Bought a Konica Big Mini for 3000 yen. Bought a Nikon F3Press Camera.
Since getting here to Japan last August, I’ve shot about 500 rolls of Fuji neopan 400 film. The total from 2001 to 2004 (pre-august) was around 800 total I think. I have 8 boxes that originally held 100 sheets of fresh new Ilford RC Deluxe (Pearl) that now hold workprints on the TV stand next to the TV.
It is not that a drug habit would’nt be cheaper, it just could not be as frusterating and fulfilling at the same time as what it is that I keep trying to do with all this stuff; these chemicals, this paper and these machines, and this business of selecting and taking slices from a three dimensional fluid world, then freezing and flattening them into photographs.
Because what really matters is the pictures, and the pictures existing, and having to deal with them.
But I do enjoy cameras…
