reflex
Photo by Bruce Miller

This is a Kodak Brownie Reflex.  When I was visiting my parents a while ago, I found my great-aunt’s Brownie in a trunk and got hooked the minute I saw that vignetty image through the reflex lens.  It was like looking back through time.

I carried it away with me.  That camera has taken pictures of graduations, weddings, and first communions since the forties and now it’s on a shelf in my front room.  I’ve ordered some film from one of the two factories on the planet that still make 127 film and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.

I still haven’t decided whether I want to take the whole thing apart and try to clean the lens before I shoot a test roll.  On one hand, I’m sure it needs cleaning.  The reflex lens certainly did.  On the other, there’s a very real chance I could reduce the thing to a pile of springs and screws liberally salted with bitter tears.  Tough call.

No, this has nothing to do with the manuscript revision I ought to be doing.  Nothing at all.  Why would you even ask that?

Recommended Posts

Desert Island Book

My official “desert island books” list has increased by one: Cugel’s Saga, by Jack Vance. It’s a world of mendacious Dungeons & Dragons characters, all sounding like they came from a Wodehouse novel, and I keep re-reading it every few months. Note: This book is also sold under its alternate […]