When age catches up...

So it has been awhile. Life gets crazy then it seems to get even crazier. But the one thing I've been able to fall back on for that rare moment sanity is my photography. It's become like an insatiable hunger. I don't feel complete without a camera in my possession whether it's one of my film SLR's or my iPhone or my son's plastic camera that plays a song every time you click the shutter button. Every night I have 5 different photo ideas running through my head before I fall asleep.

However, this summer has proven to be a bit of a bummer.  My two 35mm SLR's went kaput on me. It began with my No. 1, my Canon AE-1 getting completely jammed. I took her to the doctor and was diagnosed with....being old. Apparently the the innards needed to be oiled....$135 to be completely serviced. So my poor Canon would be out of commission for a while. Good news was I finally knew what to tell people I wanted for a Christmas.

So then I decided to give my dad's old Yashica FX-3 a run. I didn't think I'd love it as much as my Canon. This Yashica was a little worse for wear with some of the glued on faux leather peeling off and too many dings to count. But once I developed that first roll of film I was hooked! This camera had the most amazing light leaks! First camera I've shot with that had these light leaks and became fun to see where the leaks fell in my various frames. The pictures below were some of my favorites from the time I spent at the cabin this summer. 

So a lot of the summer was spent shooting with this new gem....until the film advance lever quit that is. The lever wasn't pulling the film anymore! It was done. I still have hope for being able to fix this one myself. Just haven't had a quiet moment to be able to sit down and operate.

This brings me to the thought I really should learn how to fix manual cameras. It makes sense to me that if you get into a hobby that has significantly expensive upkeep costs....maybe you should learn to upkeep a bit yourself. Unless your too busy because you have a toddler who runs you around in circles, literally. There's a lot of running involved in Duck, Duck, Goose when there's just 2 people. At this is how I am planning on rationalizing dishing out a possible $135 for my Canon.