I still remember the tanning smell of the leather
case of my first “real” camera. It was a 1954 Russian/Ukrainian Kiev 35mm
rangefinder, a perfect copy of the German pre-war Contax camera. It opened a
new horizon on capturing candid moments of, first family and school friends,
then of people on streets.
Then it was the magic of developing B&W negative
film in makeshift darkrooms, which often were bathrooms where I had a 1950s
Hansa Pro enlarger and 3 trays. That tight dark space had no light but running
water. A fishing line across the room had my mother’s cloth hanging pins and
the wet paper upon which, by sheer magic, faces had appeared in the developer solution
hung for hours to dry.
That was more than 50 years ago. Since then miles
and miles of 35mm and 120mm film have gone through my mechanical cameras. I
have taken street photos of people in more than 25 countries, and have lost
many an undeveloped roll to uncalibrated airport X-ray machines in the
developing world.
Yet, the excitement of seeing that image slowly appear
in the developer tray has never diminished.
That is why I was delighted when 6 months ago a prominent
gallery in Prescott, Arizona invited me to display my photography upcoming July
and August.
Here is the link to the Arts Prescott Gallery: http://www.artsprescott.com/ . Going to
the “Events” tab and clicking on my name shows some of my most recent works.
…. Maybe the reason why I still remember the tanning
smell of the leather case of my first “real” camera is because I still have
that camera! And still use it by buying film from Croatia on the Internet…
May 26, 2016
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016
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