Tag Travel

Mystery Models – v2.0

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1959 Yashica Model A twin-lens reflex camera instruction booklet cover.  

This dapper dude appears on at least two different Yashica brochures in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This cover shot is from a Yashica A III instruction book from 1959. He always appears with a “modern” pipe, fancy derby and is winking at the camera. My thought is that he is an actor who may have lived in or was super popular in Japan during that period. Any thoughts? Please see the back cover image below.

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Here he is in a German language Yashica brochure from early 1960 (below).

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Any help would be appreciated. As researchers of silly Yashica stuff, knowing who he is helps with some other silly stuff we’re interested in (Yashica-wise).

Thanks!

C&C

 

The Palace Saloon… Florida’s Oldest

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Centre Street, Amelia Island.
The Palace Saloon – Florida’s oldest bar. It opened in the late 1800s and was once the watering hole for the Carnegies (who had a mansion on nearby Cumberland Island) and the Rockefellers. It was the last American tavern to close during Prohibition! Still a favorite spot with locals and tourists alike.

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Pirate Pete guards the entrance – only allowing thirsty people with money to enter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Fading Florida…

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Closed and forgotten long ago when the super highway passed it by. Abandoned and neglected. Sun bleached, baked and peeling – rust overwhelms then destroys. Plants invade, cracks widen, water seeps in. Rot and mold – bugs and rodents. Soon to collapse – no restoration – forest takes over.

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Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

Canon AZ 1014 Super 8 Movie Camera… 1977

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Purchased new by us in 1977… wow, 40 years ago! It’s still going strong – the automatic exposure is accurate, the Canon electronic zoom lens is flawless, and all controls and gizmos are doing their things. Why? Well number one is it was designed and built super well and it uses readily available double A (AA ‘penlight’) batteries. No out of manufacture mercury batteries and their modern replacements to deal with! Thank you Canon!

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The business side of this gem. It’s a TTL Servo EE electronic exposure system using still available Super 8 film. It operates like an SLR in the sense that you focus and adjust zoom and exposure through the lens. Canon’s 7-70mm f/ 1.4 Macro Zoom (10x) Lens C-8 is razor sharp and produces vivid colors and delivers exceptional contrast.

Macro capabilities are incredible – as close as 10mm from the front of the lens! Slow motion, fades, interval shooting and time lapse plus the ability to manually control the aperture!

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The camera loaded with a Super 8 cartridge and the six AA batteries weighs in at nearly 2 kg! I can tell you that lugging it through Walt Disney World was no picnic… but fun!

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Carol exploring her plants via the Canon AZ 1014. This is so 1977! Our home in Yokohama.

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The photographer observed! The young lad was friendly and couldn’t figure out what in the world I was filming! Olongapo City, Philippines 1978.

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Bug hunting in Yokohama… 1978.

Playing with the camera again makes me want to start filming again… well maybe not. 50 feet of Super 8 movie film disappears quickly and so does the money in your wallet. The camera is amazing but outdated – but, for the money, you can’t beat the quality of the Canon optics that cost thousands today.

Carol and I have so many cameras that we can’t ever use them all before we pass on. So we are documenting our cameras just before they go to auction via eBay and Etsy. So sad but the time’s come to thin out the heard.

Photographed with our Fujifilm FinePix S9900. Carol (photo by me) with my Canon F-1 and me (photo by Jim) was taken with some junky old Nikon! Can you imagine!

Thanks for your visit!

Chris ^.^

Architectural Gem – Prairie School Style

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The Prairie School style of architecture was influenced by the popular Arts and Crafts style of design from the last part of the 1800s – born in the American Mid-West, it swept across the United States during the early 1900s and was in part made famous by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This fabulous building is at the corner of Broad and Duval Streets in Jacksonville, Florida. Construction began in late 1912 and finished in 1916.

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The Masonic Temple as it still stands today. Catching the last rays of Florida sunshine on a winter’s day.

This five story reinforced concrete and brick building located in downtown Jacksonville, Florida has stood the test of time for just over 100 years.

My image doesn’t do the building justice as it only focuses on one small part that caught my eye in the glowing late afternoon sunlight. The abstract ornaments includes a row of Masonic symbols between the fourth and fifth stories and ornate terracotta and pressed metal designs elsewhere.

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Of interest, it was home to the first African-American owned bank in Jacksonville, the Anderson Bank. The building was groundbreaking in the sense that while located in the deep south, it was one of the few buildings that African-American business owners had their professional offices – dentists, doctors and lawyers.

Image taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4.

Thanks for your visit! Comments are always welcomed. Chris ^.^

Yokosuka and Yokohama

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Memories of our time in Japan – 1977 to 1980. We lived in Yokohama, Naka-ku. Lovely place. Wonderful people. Every day an adventure. As I read current blogs from Japan, it strikes me that so many signs are now in English. Back in the day (as they say) that wasn’t the case. These two signs were within walking distance of major U.S. Navy installations. No English. No problem. I’m sorry to say that we never learned to read kanji or katakana but we at least learned what the kanji characters looked like for where we wanted to be.

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Yokosuka train station, Keihin Kyuko Line schedule heading north to Yokohama.

I always tried for the “green” trains at 15, 35 and 55 after the hour. These were the fastest to Yoko!

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Waiting for Bus 8 to Yokohama train station. We knew to look for the kanji character that looked like an old style camera on a tripod as that was Yokohama. Hey it worked!

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Bus driver giving me the look.

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This was the only sign that I can remember that had English on it near our house in Yokohama. BTW, it was a hot, hazy and humid summer day on the Kanto Plain that day.

Anyway, no complaints here, but as you can see not much in the way of English (none actually). That was Japan in the late 1970s. We had a blast!

Thanks for your visit!

Chris and Carol ^.^

Canon F-1

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First version Canon F-1 with its gorgeous chrome nosed FD 50mm f/ 1.4 lens.

Canon F-1 from April 1972. This was the first version of the F-1 and it sports a rather low serial number. We’ve held this one back all these years with just occasional use (mainly in the studio). Our field tested F-1 (not pictured) was acquired new in 1978 (2nd version F-1) and it’s the one that’s traveled the world – getting seriously wet in Hong Kong, Japan and the US- dropped in a photographic safari bus in Kenya – slid off a train seat in Tokyo – and was briefly “lost” in Diego Garcia!

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All original stuff from 1972.

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Note that this super early FD lens does not have the SC or SSC markings on the lens ring.

I started 35mm SLR photography with a Nikonos II and then purchased my first Yashica (TL Electro-X) and then into Canon we went. We need to find some time to take this one out and put that classic glass to good use! Nothing like holding an old friend again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris