I purchased this Kodak Junior Six-20 for this project. Found it in a junk shop in Sawyer, Michigan, and paid $25.00. It was formerly owned by Private John R. Sauppessig (label inside).
I ran two rolls of T-max 100 (120 re-spooled by B&H) through it with limited success. As you can imagine it does in fact have a light leak. The resulting pictures were of course a bit of a surprise. A few unintentional double exposures along with some massive burned out areas and other abnormalities. The image I chose to send is a double-exposed abstract.
The woman at GAMMA who processed and scanned them believes this camera to be the vessel for the spirit of the previous owner! :-) So we now call it the Dead Man's Camera.
On a last note it came with a roll of color film in it and have only started to search for who might process it. Seems a bit costly for my current financial situation.
Great fun doing this and I look forward to what others have come up with.
Charlie Didrickson
Chicago
Bonus portrait of my fiancée, Karen, titled "Burning Bride," just for fun....
Mike,
This series is just great. I look forward to each new entry.
Posted by: Robin Dreyer | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 01:42 PM
Thanks for doing this Mike. This has been a really enjoyable exercise and I enjoy seeing what people have done with it.
I hope to run a roll a film every month and see if I can't tame this wild little camera.
Posted by: charlie d | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 02:44 PM
Really nice. I like both of them very much. One of the assignments during a photo course I did was to trust coincidence and technical failures. Just press the button of the camera whenever you felt like it. No focussing, framing or other adjustments. This resulted in a couple of very intriguing photos, but I like these better. These are a combination of purposeful photographing combined with coincidence and technical failure (and a camera with a soul).
Posted by: Maarten B | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 03:22 PM
I have this identical camera sitting on a shelf. I am the second owner (my step-father was the first).
Posted by: michael | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 04:24 PM
Charlie, you're giving a new meaning to the phrase "ghost in the machine" :-)
Love the photo of your fiancee, even if it is a bit spooky!
Posted by: Miserere | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 06:28 PM
I think that Gamma lab tech was onto something. That's clearly a burst of ectoplasm spewing from your fiancée. Personally, I'd dump her and make another choice (subject to the Kodak Junior Six-20 test, of course).
Anyway, that's a pretty darn kool camera, Charlie. A few years ago, just before Marshall Field's became Macy's, I came across a very similar camera in the State Street store's basement as part of a display of "old stuff". The shutter seemed to work, although probably not terribly accurately. But I couldn't find anyone who would sell it to me. The next day it was gone, probably on its way to Sawyer, Michigan before its trip back to Chicago, eh?
Thanks for sharing this.
Posted by: Ken Tanaka | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 09:39 PM
A very similiar camera by kodak, the "Bantam", sits on a shelf at home. I am the second owner. My father, a WWII veteran was the first owner. Notice the OVF fastens to the top of the camera.
Posted by: Hal | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 09:52 PM
Thanks for stopping and commenting everyone.
Ken
I'm working on a new mate as we speak. Think of what our kids will be like! Might have to contact Harold Ramis and friends about this one.
Central Camera has a brand new one sitting in the window. The price tag is the original marked at $10.00
I had originally thought my problem was the shutter (not having owned a bellows cam) so it seems if I limit the time the cam is open it will reduce the leaking. That is sort of a pain in the butt.
Maybe I find exactly where it is and patch it.
In this one the camera was only open for a moment.
http://www.63images.com/photobucket/kodaksmaile.jpg
Fun stuff
Posted by: charlie d | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 08:43 AM
If it's color negative film--chances are it's going to be hard to find any one with the older chemicals--Just have it processed in B&W chemistry--should work fine. Since the camera has light leaks now, it probable had them then. Running a B&W lab years age, we processed film that was over 30 years old from these old cameras--mostly fog but we did get some images. Lots of hidden fun and mystery.
Good Luck.
Posted by: Carl Leonardi | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 10:30 AM