Confessions of the Frugal Photographer

 

I stopped in at a local thrift store recently for the purpose of getting change for a twenty.  I plucked a book off the shelf and took it to the counter.

"Just the book?, said the cashier.

"Yes."

"Thirty-five cents."

"!!!"

I probably should have bought the CS2 manual thirteen years ago when I first acquired the program.  Instead I muddled through as I often do, relying on what information I could scrape up from the web.  Of course, I might have had to pay double for book then, but it still would obviously have been quite a bargain.  Also, the CS2 version of Photoshop cost me nothing as the company for about ten days allowed free downloads as a new version had gone on the market.

I probably have about the same number of books about photography as I do old film cameras.  Most have been acquired from used book stores at bargain prices.  Some favorites I have enjoyed going back to recently include Ilse Bing: Photography Through the Looking Glass,  Paul Strand: An American Vision,  and A Shadow Falls by Nick Brandt.

All of which leads to the confession part of this missive.  While it is difficult to quantify,  I think it not unreasonable to posit that about half of my enjoyment of film photography derives from the fun of hunting for bargains in old analogue photography cameras and accessories.  The majority of my collection came from ebay, but I have also picked up quite a few from junk stores and yard sales.  Here is a small sampling from the ninety-nine cents to ten dollar category:

The Nikon EM was found at a neighbor's yard sale and cost $10.  The five-dollar Hikari came from the Savers thrift store in Albuquerque.  Both have mounts that accept some of the finest lenses ever made.  I picked up several of the much-in-demand Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim at junk stores; none cost more than five bucks and the last one I found had a "99 cents" price tag.

Well, you know what is coming: Cheap is good, Free is better.  Dedicated photographers over the years find themselves in possession of fine cameras which have been superseded by other fine cameras.  Asking for money in exchange for a camera that has produced treasured photos seems a bit like selling a friend, so one goes looking for an enthusiast who will treasure the surplus camera and use it as intended.  I like to consider myself in that category as I have always to some extent justified my possession of more than a few cameras with the idea that I have made pictures with (nearly) every one.  And, thus, I have ended up with some very fine cameras thanks mostly to the generosity of friends who I have known only through my connection to the Internet.

Not all the donations have been of the extraordinary quality apparent in the above examples,  and there are times when a perfectly useable camera just does not seem to fit the current work flow.  So, I have passed on quite a few cameras to others.

The prices on old cameras have gotten a bit weird lately.  I often see examples that are neither uncommon nor unique in their capacities selling for hundreds of dollars.  Still, there are bargains to be found even if it takes some dedicated searching.  Somewhat surprising is the fact that I still find myself on a daily basis doing just that, even though the likelihood of buying yet another camera is presently miniscule.  It takes about ten minutes to troll through the auction listings on ebay in four-hour chunks, skipping past the details of grossly over-priced cameras, while examining the particulars of those which come closer to my traditional target upper limit of thirty-five bucks.  It reminds me of my youth in downtown Seattle, window shopping with my grandfather in front of First Avenue pawnshops and sporting goods stores.