Remembering my Mom on what would have been her 109th birthday.

September 10, 2025September 10, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

A little something I wrote back in 2016.

In celebration of my mom, Mary, on the centennial of her birth in the city that she loved and knew so well… born September 10, 1916, at home on East 74th Street in Manhattan.

She told me that the rooftops and streets of the Upper East Side were her playgrounds and the East River (THAT river!) was where they splashed in the heat of summer.

She would go on to become a secretary for some of the biggest corporations in America, which were headquartered in New York.

She would meet my dad (Paul) at the wedding of her best friend and fall in love with him at first sight. She married my dad on November 3, 1943, just a few blocks from where she grew up.

During the war, she worked at Columbia University and would go on to receive recognition for her work on the Manhattan Project (Silver A-Bomb Pin).

By the mid-1950s, she was a suburban housewife (not a bad thing to say then, but if you said it today, you’d catch heck) and was the best mom in the world to me… she was at every baseball game and at school functions, and she taught me the ropes of New York and life.

My mom was the strongest person I knew… in less than twenty years, she would lose the man she loved with all her heart and fight on to see me through those difficult years that came after.

Sadly, she left way too soon herself, but her love of the City, of life, of adventure, and her courage are with me today.

My mom’s Kodak from 1938 and the host of images she took with it are special to me. My mom’s and dad’s love of photography was passed down to me (foto DNA), and that remains an essential connection to them.

If you’ve read this through, I thank you… It is only a small gesture that I can make in her memory today.

Image 1: Her camera.

Image 2: 1960 street photography. Me with my first camera.

Image 3: Mom with her bestie, Anne, in 1939.

Image 4: Mom and Dad in 1961 on a second honeymoon in Rio.

Image 5: 1976, Jensen Beach, Florida, just before I left for Japan.

‘Street Photography’, 1960. With my first camera.

Mom (on the right) with her bestie, Anne, 1939.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, is this blog’s property and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris, Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris. Copyright © 2015-2025 Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris (Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic), Chris Whelan. All rights reserved.

Happy SUNday! – Back to 1959

September 7, 2025September 12, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Three “new” cameras from 1959.
The Asahi Pentax H2 shown here in its Honeywell Heiland badges, the Canon Canonflex, and the Yashica Pentamatic ’35’. All three made their debuts that year, although the Yashica more formally in March 1960. The Asahi is the 4th pentaprism 35mm SLR after their original in 1957. The Canon and Yashica were their first-ever SLRs. The Asahi Pentax more or less set the standard for what a compact 35mm SLR would look like for the next decade. Not pictured with this trio is the Nikon F, which was also released that year.

Three gems from the late 1950s. These were the standard lenses that would have been attached as part of a ‘kit’.

This one is a beast! It’s about the same size and weight as the Canon F-1, which was released much later in March 1971.

Of the three, I think the Yashica has the cleanest design and looks the most modern for the time period.

It takes two hands to handle the Canon. The Canon’s lens is radioactive. Not quite enough to heat your dinner (I hope).

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

An elegant machine designed to capture light on film.

September 5, 2025September 5, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

From 1959. An Asahi Optical Company H2. Shown here with its North American market distributors’ engravings. No self-timer, accessory shoe, or light meter. A clean machine.

The Asahi Pentax ‘Original’ or just ‘AP’ as it came to be referred to. From 1957. Asahi’s first 35mm SLR with an eye-level pentaprism.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

USS Midway, still going strong at 80!

September 3, 2025September 3, 2025Chris and Carol 3 Comments

Thirty-two years after this picture was taken, I reported to the USS Midway (CV-41) in Yokosuka, Japan. My first carrier and one of the most challenging and rewarding assignments of my then young Navy career. I’m amazed that we’re both still “afloat” after all these years! GO Navy, the Best always have!
She’s basically a battleship with a flight deck.

She’s one of the best US Navy museum ships around.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

(almost) wordless wednesday

September 3, 2025September 3, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

This building is the same one on the far right in the first image (Waas Drugs).

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Happy SUNday! – images from a 1959 lens.

August 31, 2025August 31, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Very nice colors and contrast. This 35mm lens, when used on a crop sensor camera like the Fuji, provides an effective focal length of approximately 52mm, which is considered a “normal” or “standard” lens.

A test picture showing nice contrast and color from a sixty-five-year-old lens.

An Asahi Takumar f3.5 35mm wide-angle lens from 1959 mounted on my modern Fujifilm mirrorless camera via an adapter.

This classic lens looks right at home on my Fuji X-T2.

I enjoy using classic lenses on my modern cameras. It’s easy and inexpensive to adapt your lenses to your mirrorless digital cameras.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

The ‘Original’

August 28, 2025August 28, 2025Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Asahi Pentax 35mm SLR

The original Asahi Pentax 35mm SLR. The first eye-level pentaprism camera from Asahi Pentax (1957-1958). It’s also known as the ‘AP’ and ‘Original’.

It’s shown with its proper lens, the Takumar f/2 58mm and Asahi 46mm UV filter.

This camera pre-dates the original Nikon F, which was released in 1959.

I believe it’s a much better camera than the original Nikon F (I use both). Its sleek, still modern-looking design is unmistakably Pentax.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

wordless (almost) wednesday

August 27, 2025August 27, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Follow me on Instagram https://instagram.com/ccphotographyai

Facebook CC Photography of Amelia

Flickr Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

A day at the beach with Hurricane Erin

August 20, 2025August 20, 2025Chris and Carol Leave a comment

A day at the beach. Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach. The clouds in the distance are cirrus clouds from Hurricane Erin. The surf was up, but I’ve seen worse. I’m glad this storm missed the US.