The camera

My new camera. from Will Cruttenden on Vimeo.

After my dad died in 2012 I found his old camera, which in turn had belonged to his dad, my grandfather. I have pictures of my dad, as a boy, taken on this camera and I still enjoy looking at them. He looks carefree and happy, on his bike, exploring London in the 1930s.

Dad seems to have taken a few pictures of me as a carefree and happy young boy (not on a bike but looking bewildered in Slough). Now I have this camera and a (mostly) carefree and happy young boy of my own. I kept telling myself that I would find film for the camera and take pictures of Jude so we could have three generations taken on the same device.

But, of course, things got in the way, life became busier, finding the correct film was hard and, most importantly, I’m rubbish.

So yesterday evening, in a fit of good intentions, I tracked down some film in Germany (thank you internet) and ordered two rolls of it. Now I need to learn how to load the camera, take the pictures and find somewhere to get the pictures developed.

The film is due to arrive in the week and then the experiment begins. If anyone reading this knows anything about 1920s pockets cameras and 127 film, I’d appreciate any advice.