remember the old russian cameras from zenit?

made to withstand any nuclear attack from the west or, at best, used to knock a mugger out when thrown at his head, these cameras were indeed heavy duty engineered!

the best one in my mind was the one above -- the zenit e.

it was given to me as a birthday present when i was a teenager back in the glorious 70s, and i still have it with me today, still solidly chugging away as the first day i used it.

ok, its not a very quiet camera ( a bit agricultural really!), but who cares, if it is able to give excellent results day in day out.

my favourite times are those when i use my medium format cameras.

and the fab one i like using is the yashica twin lens reflex, which i used to see my dad using when i was just a wee bairn (for those who dont understand scottish terminology, bairn means child!!).

funnily enough, that was probably what started the love of cameras in me, as i remember always wanting to use it but was never allowed to until i was about 14 years old!

i can understand that, as cameras in those days were very expensive indeed, and wages were only around £16 a week (thats around $25 a week!!), so money was short.

my dada used to fill one of those shopping trolley for a whole £3, i recall -- try doing that now!

anyway, when i first started using the yashica all those years agom b&w film was cheapest, and so i stuck to using that, and only later on did i realise the beautiful efects you get using mono. the rest is history!

sudden change in weather today in london!

dark, black clouds, plenty of wind and of course, on and off rain!

took some really moody shots today though, using my vintage voigtlander vitessa camera and some monochrome film.

cant wait to see how they come out...!

well...a wet, miserable day in london! been raining all night and all morning, with a few short breaks in between.

but plenty of potential for rainy day shots, especially tonight.
i always think the streets at night after rain are so atmospheric, and always try and capture the images if i can -- lost count of how many ive taken over the years! must be hundreds!

so i ll be prowling the streets in my neighbourhood tonight in search of my pics!

2 of my favourite cameras! the yashica twin lens reflex that first caught my attention when i was around 5 years old!

and the olympus trip 35 -- one of the worlds most under rated cameras! this one has been fully refurbished by myself and has a unique maroon snakeskin leather fascia.

i have other olympus trips on offer for sale -- some with lizard skin effects. leave a message here if you would like one...!

ive always been a strong lover of street photos, especially in thestyle of that great hero of monochrome street pics, brassai.

well, i found some very good, more recent ones just recently, which actually capture the essence of street photography.

view the collection here

just keep wondering though... how was he able to take these shots in public without anyone seeing? i know if you tried it in london these days, you ll have the cops on you for contravening the public privacy laws or something!!

as you will find out in due course, i have a sizeable number of vintage cameras in my collection, and as a result of warnings from my good wife about impending marital proceedings, i have been forced to offer some of them for sale!

all of them have been tested and used by myself, so you know you are looking at a working item, that will surely appreciate in time as well.

pop over to my items on offer here or here

and of course, advice is always free to anyone! try me....