Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My First Kodak

Hey, Y'all,
I awakened early this morning and no doubt will try to go back to bed in a few minutes, if only for about two hours or less. I decided to see if I couldn't think of something to write about. "K" is a somewhat difficult letter to find something a little out of the ordinary to write about. So, I cheated a little and just went to the Yahoo browser and typed in a ka, got nothing I wanted to use, then a ki, nothing...., then a ko, and one of the words that came up in the suggestions was Kodak. I thought, "ah ha" and remembered my old Brownie Kodak. I think I must have gotten it for my 18th birthday, or something, because I know I used it when I went to YWA Camp in North Carolina.

Do you remember the Brownie cameras? They were very simple box type cameras, with a flash attachment for extra light when it was needed, and had flash bulbs that were put into the attachment. There was a little release button on the top of the attachment for flipping out the used bulb. 

The film was loaded manually into the camera in the dark, and one end of the film was attached to one of the spools inside the box, and stretched around and secured in its proper slot. When you were reasonably sure that you had inserted the film properly, you put the outer case back in place and secured it with a little latch. Then you wound the knob that the spool was attached to, until you saw the number 1 in the little window, and you were ready to take photos with it. 

When you had taken the roll full of pictures (I think they held 20- I'm not sure of the number - you have to realize how long it has been), you would make sure the film was wound as far as it would go, and then remove the outer case and then the little spool of film. The little spool would be put into a canister and taken to a place to be developed. One would have to wait at least two weeks to get the finished product back.

The finished product was returned to you in a booklet form, and the photos were about 3x3 inches with deckled edges. 

My goodness, what a difference to the cameras of today, but they certainly preserved a lot of memories for us, didn't they?

Note: About my two wonderful daughters, Carol and Teresa.
As many of my faithful followers know, Teresa has been through Chemo and Radiation therapy for breast cancer very recently, and as of yesterday she was pronounced "In Remission" by her doctor. Hallelujah, and Praise the Lord! Many of you have been praying for her. She kept a blog of her journey, and yesterday wrote what she hopes will be the last entry in it. If you are interested in reading it, I would recommend it. It is very touching and well written. You can find the link to it, on this page, under "Pickin' up the Pieces" under "Other Interesting Blogs". 

My daughter, Carol, was writing a blog long before I was, and she, too, along with Teresa, writes beautifully. She decided late to enter the A to Z challenge, but is not listed with any of the leaders. If you would like to read her blog, it has a link also on my page and is listed as http://carolgbennett.blogspot.com. I recommend it as well. You will get to know our families even better by reading these two blogs. 

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later. Gotta go catch a few more "zzzzzzz's". 

10 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

This was great to read Ruby, I can remember my first Kodak also. nothing like today's digital camera's.

Yvonne.

Lisa said...

Oh that was good time. We watched what pictures to take and was careful not to waste. We would be in trouble if we ran out of films and we waited eagerly for our pictures to be ready. So very much not like today.

I will of course check out your daughters blogs. Thank you for the links.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Oh yes, I remember the Brownie, too, and still have a lot of the pictures that were taken with one. The pictures may be in B&W, but the memories they bring back are in full color.

So glad to hear that your daughter is in remission.

Marjorie said...

Remember Polaroids? Those were like magic to kid!

Margie's Musings said...

I remember my mother had one of those Kodacs. It's been awhile.

Mom B said...

Thanks, Mom, for mentioning my blog. I wanted to be hospitable, but just hadn't had time to visit other blogs yet. :-)

AiringMyLaundry said...

I remember having cameras like that when I was younger.

I'm so glad they are instant these days.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

My parents had a Brownie.

Grammy said...

Hey, Y'all,
thanks for the comments! The old cameras were as complicated in a way, as the new ones are for older people to operate now. I have have owned several cameras in the intervening years, learning to use the F stops and all that jazz. No matter what the kind of camera, it freezes moments in time for us. How wonderful is that!!! Yes, I had one of the Polaroids as well. :)

Margaret Hall said...

Oh, yes...I had a Brownie, sorta' a clunky thing, and I had trouble keepin' up with the windin' of the silly thing! But, those black and whites with crinkly edges were the goin' thing then! You took me back to my trip to a Girl Scout Camp with my Brownie and those pictures were soooooooo miniature!
Always a pleasure to read your words, thanks for a great Kodak Moment...(smile)



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