Like a Ray of Sunshine


Now doesn't this remind you of one of those
washing machines in a laundromat?




It's such nice looking little thing.  Understated gray and brushed aluminum, red
 accent print and a faux glass lens surround.  Kind of classy, really.  I found it
in an antiques shop, and being nearly 50 years old I guess it's close.  It was made
on the 22nd day of January, 1958.  The date is stamped inside the film chamber.  It says
six twenty on the front, so I took a wild guess and figured that's what size film it takes.
 620 is what fits, so I guessed right.  Yep, I'm very intuitive.





The tiny print at the bottom of the front of the camera tell us it's made in
Chicago, Ill.  It has a place to screw in a flash attachment, but I couldn't find
one for it.  The view finder is the typical TV screen type.  This thing only weighs
 a few ounces.  It's made of genuine plastic.  None of that fancy bakelite stuff here. 
Kind of a strange thing, the Sunbeam doesn't make anything like a square negative.
 More like 51mm high and 56mm wide.



The best I can tell, the lens is a singlet.  Shutter is as simple as they
come with just one speed.  No "bulb".  No "time".  No aperture settings.
That knob at the top on the back unscrews to open the back for film loading. 
The ruby window is hard plastic and very easy to see the frame numbers
 through, but I didn't see any problems with fogging.  The shutter release is a toughie.
 The spring is a bit stiff, and at the end of the throw it builds up resistance, and then, snap!
 It goes off. 


I used re-rolled Macophot 100UP for these shots, developed in
PC-TEA.  Printed on Agfa paper in Neutol developer.



I'm gonna get the worst over with first.  This is our town fountain,
but it's hard to tell.  That dodgy shutter release got the best of me
here, and you can easily see the motion blur.
It gets better though...




An old truck in one of the parking lots around town.  This old
truck has about three cords of wood on it, and every year it's used
to haul it to the winner of the fire station fund raffle.




So, is this some kind of human interest shot?  Heck no!
I just wanted to show everyone our stoplight.  That's it, right there.
The only intersection in the entire county with a traffic signal.
Saves a lot of money on light bulbs.
We have a right of way law here.  Who needs stoplights?
Who needs stop signs, for that matter.




This old stamp mill, and a bunch of other old mining
equipment is kept by the historical society at the edge
of town.  A steam engine would have run this, and it had
two long rods with large weights at the end that would
go up and down, the weights smashing the ore as it passed
under them.




An old cabin at the historical society site, near the mill above.




The court house steam traction engine.  You do have one
 of these at the court house in your town, don't you?
'Course you do...


Thanks for checking in.



deansphotographica.com

deansofidaho.com

deanw@bmi.net

10-04

© 2004 Dean Williams