Do you remember the camera or lens? Or care?

I do remember what I used for photos I have, going back to 1971. But I care about that only in so far as it's a reminder of how much I changed equipment over the years, buying into the notion that a particular camera or system would make a huge difference in my images. The only real difference was between 35mm, medium format, and occasional forays into 4x5. Otherwise, the equipment really didn't matter, and it's very much an embarrassment to admit to myself that I bought into the hype repeatedly. I like to think I'm older and wiser, but GAS still does happen!
 
Back to the title of this thread: Do you remember? Or care?


Answers. No (I'm 76). Yes, I care since I have used multiple lenses on some cameras since the late 1960. It would be nice to know what lenses I used and, during a short overlap time back in those days, which camera. I can only guess now. But that's OK since I'm having more fun than ever with photography.
 
Actually, I do remember what camera I used, and usually the film as well, as well as what I was thinking/feeling about the subject, at least for every picture I've taken that I care about - and that goes back to the late 60's. Does it matter? No, I've taken pictures I care about with godless digital cameras too, quite a few of them.
 
If it's an old picture of my childhood, it either came from Olan Mills (RB67's maybe?) or my dad's Yashica SLR with a 50/1.7 or similar lens. I generally remember what I used 10 years ago but it doesn't matter to me in retrospect since the end result is what I care about. I care about it in the present only as much as I enjoy using the equipment in getting specific results that I am after and perhaps dictating what I will try to shoot based on what I carry.
 
My memory is general, not specific. My earliest photos (film) were made with Nikons and a few with a Leica. My middle film period was Canon and Leica. And my digital period was originally Canon and Olympus, now Nikon and Fuji with some Ricoh GR. That's about as close as it gets for memory. Lens? No way to tell.

And it honestly doesn't matter anyway. Those photos have already been taken, never will be taken again and time has moved on.
 
For me the most amazing (and wonderful) effect I get from looking at my old images, are the memories that come rushing back. I have negatives in my archives dating to 1961, taken with our family's 616 Brownie on my grandfather's farm. The property is no longer in the family's hands and the farmhouse, dating to 1884, will be torn down in May or June next year to make way for, are you ready for it? an age care center and retirement village. So yes, a lifetime has passed, but the memories endure.

I have those old negatives in front of me now as I write this - eight 616 negatives taken on Verichrome Pan film and processed (likely with a Kodak Tri-Chem Pack or DK60A,which we all used back then) at the local pharmacy as I didn't set up my home darkroom before late 1962 - the contact prints disappeared long ago but the film endures. Three of those images are of my cousin flying down a snowy hill on his skis. He was 17 at the time I took them; he died a few months ago at age 77, we hadn't been in contact for some time but when I look at the negatives and the scans I've recently made of them, everything returns in my mind. It's how films works for me.

As for cameras, my thinking goes in circles here also. I still own and use a Rolleiflex TLR I bought in 1966. In the 1970s I moved into the Nikkormat range, initially FTNs, then ELs, finally FT2s. I bought the ELs new in and finally disposed of them last year , sold them at mate's rates prices to someone who is using them. I no longer have my original Nikkors as I tended to trade up, but I do own some I bought in the 1990s and still use now and then. Several other cameras in my 'arsenal' date to the 1980s and get used as and when time and inclination allows. In 2009 I moved over to digital and I use my digiNikons often, but they haven't the same meaning to me as my film cameras. I see this as entirely natural.

Let's not go into those cameras I bought into but sold out of over the years - Leica Ms (I still miss them), Hasselblads (good riddance to the lot) and other superb makes I didn't bond with and I wasn't at all fussed to see them go. All sold and moved on.

M travel photos were fun to take and I've sold a fair few of them, back in the days when such images could find markets. Now they sit in their respective boxes or folders or hard disks, now and then I look at them and sigh but that's about it. The best were those I shot in Asia in 1970, each and every one of those mean a lot to me. I've kept all my old selfies and cat and dog shots - even a color portrait taken of me in 1954, which has somehow survived almost seven decades without any fading or even color shift. Family photos (two spouses, two stepsons) were all given to their respective subjects, who treasure them. I shot thousands but have kept maybe 20.

So yes, I have too many memories, but I try to not let them clutter up my brain too much. Still, I enjoy looking at those old images, even if only as contact proofs on one of my scanners plugged into my laptop or PC. Time-travel...

Like Dogman said (#65(, it really doesn't matter. I've lived a long life (I turned 74 a few days ago), and to me many things in life no longer matter very much and some things don't matter at all, however they affected me at the time when they happened. Time passes and everything changes. My goal now is not so much to have a long life as I know I haven't that left, but to have a good life. My photography continues to enhance my time here and this is why I go on taking photographs, even of things I've taken often over the years.

That's me, it's my life, they are my cameras and the images I've made with them. That's all...

NB I did enjoy seeing an old Roger Hicks thread revived - he had the rare ability to write in a way that made us think about many basic things, at times uncomfortably - he and his late spouse, Frances Schulz are still greatly missed by many.
 
The way I organize my photos, I do know which camera, lens, and film I used. I also kept notebooks, so from 1971 to about 1978 I also recorded exposure and other information.

These days, unless I’m using a film format other than 35mm, I don’t record exposure information.
 
My earliest photos were with a 110 cassette camera, then a Kodak disc camera. I do care what cameras and lenses I used, as it adds another dimension to the photos I took. For a long time, I categorized my digital images in folders according to which camera took them. Today, I still like to know what I used to shoot any given image, particularly if it has a look that I would like to have again.

On another note, it's very wistful to read this thread. Roger started this thread on the 13th of January 2011, only a few days away from 13 years ago. I'm glad that this forum exists, and that his legacy lives on here.
 
I remember about 60 years ago my first camera was an Agfa Iso_something, mainly family pics, have no negs or pics from that time.
 
I tend to bond with old, well-made mechanical things: my 1993 Bridgestone 'cross bike, my 1926 Elgin pocket watch, my 1954 Rolleiflex. I love them for their beauty and the history they carry, and they're like old friends that bring me comfort. Over the years, there have been many cameras that have gone out of my life, but I remember each one and the photographic and life adventures they accompanied me on. I do remember, and I do care!
 
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