6/52 | San Diego Photographer

February 5, 2010

Has it really been 6 weeks already?  My image for this week is actually that of a camera.  This is an old Kodak Vest Pocket camera that belonged to my grandfather.  I have no idea if this was used by him, or if he bought it as a collectors item.  I always wonder what this camera has seen.  When it was first sold, Kodak advertised it as a “Soldier’s Camera” during WWI.  I wonder if this camera was ever used to capture the memories of war?  Another cool thing about this camera was the “autographic” ability.  It came with a stylus and you could open a little window on the back of the camera and write directly onto the film.  My camera, unfortunately, is missing the stylus, but you can see where someone wrote on it.  it almost looks like it said “Mammoth,” or something similar.  Maybe someday I will be able to find some 127 film and try it out.  If you want to see the other ones that I took, you can check them out here.

mom: This camera was originally your great-grandfathers (Poppa Salley). He traveled the world in his youth, going to sea at 12. He served in both WWI and WWII as well as several politically sensitive countries, perhaps this little camera was with him in China, The Philippines, or on the seas. Look in his campaign box, maybe the stylus is in it, if not it will contain a bit of this camera's historic travels. love mom

Leave a Reply

cansel