Hassleblad, come to me...

If you're not a camera nerd, you don't want none of this.

Okay, now that we're all on the same page, I was looking through someone's amazing film photos on flickr just now (as usual) and I mean amazing, like things you can't simulate with digital, breathtaking stuff and in the contact's profile she says she uses Rolieflex twin lens cameras as well as digital Nikons. This lead me to an ebay search for the camera my dad owned when I was a child and when I saw it I was knocked out with memories of playing with it when he wasn't around. A Roleiflex at that time was a pretty incredible thing for a child, because technically it was one of the first cameras that had a view finder that looked kind of like a screen. On occasion, when no one was home but my bother and I, I would go into my parents bedroom and pull out the Rolielex from where my dad kept it on the shelf. I would flip up the top and look down into it while moving around the room. It was a bit like watching a movie, that's all. Very simple, but I thought it was so cool! I would click the shutter, sure that there was no film inside, but clicked it anyway just because I loved the satisfyingly deep thunk sound it would make. I would also open it occasionally as if I was going to load film. It had all these fun clasps and latches and I just really liked figuring it out for myself, the way my dad had taught me. I didn't know squat about photography really. Roleis are just beautiful cameras. I always love seeing them.

Hassleblad

So while I looked at a ebay listing of one just now,  it occurred to me that I wasn't sure whether my dad had sold his or not so I called him and it turns out he did. I just wanted to be sure. And then I remembered his Hassleblad. The Swedish made, medium format film camera he bought while I was a teenager. That camera takes some amazing shots and takes the same film (120 format) as a Rolieflex so I took a chance and asked if he would ever let me use it. I felt sure he would back out of it jokingly, but he agreed readily that it would be fine! WHAAAT??

I sure hope he understands that by use, I mean maybe possibly borrow, babysit, kidnap for a bit. LOL!!