bits of home // june

1// This is definitely my most covered wall in my house. Some people like a sparse, minimal office, but not this girl. My eyeballs like to look at color, and art, and funny cards, and a flea market mirror from Spain.

2// I pre-ordered Wendy MacNaughton's Meanwhile in San Francisco months ago, and it finally arrived last week. It is delightful and full of illustrations, and you should buy it immediately. The cover even turns into a poster! My short visit to San Francisco last year felt like it lasted only five minutes, so this book reminds me that I need to give the city a proper visit soon.

3// This little guy wasn't doing so hot until I moved him to a shadier spot in my backyard, and then bam! Thrive city. I'm getting better at this keeping-plants-alive game, I promise.

4// I've talked about my small camera hoard before, so nothing new here. But I quite like how they look on the built-in shelves in the office.

I'm a camera collector.

First things first: Yes, I know it's completely unsurprising to know that someone who enjoys photography would also enjoy collecting old cameras. I am one of those people, so I guess that makes me a cliché. But it's like any other hobby or passion, right? If I were a video game enthusiast (which I'm so not. sorry dear husband, for the tenth time, no I will NOT try out playing Star Wars with you), I would probably collect old Atari's and original Nintendo gaming systems. Agreed? Moving on.

So here is my very modest collection of various cameras. Super small. No need to call the folks at Hoarders: Buried Alive. Yet.

Minolta X-370 | Ricoh 500
  Minolta XG-1 | Canonet 28 | Kodak Motormatic 35

  Polaroid Land Super Colorpack | Polaroid Land Automatic 103
Fujifilm instax 210 | Polaroid Land Time-Zero OneStep | Kodak EK4

  Kodak VR35 | BG Helioflex 3000T
Canon T50 | Diana Mini | Time Magazine Camera

Not too shabby. I found a lot of these while flea marketing or thrifting, and some were given to me by my mother-in-law (she goes to auctions and flea markets like it's her job).

Obviously, I will always be on the lookout for new (old) cameras to acquire, cause the hunt is half the fun. And the other half? Using them! I won't lie, I haven't used them all. But I shoot with my Minolta X-370 and Diana Mini all the time, and I've taken tons of polaroids with my non-folding Land camera. The Ricoh and Kodak Motormatic even came with film inside, which I'm still (slowly) trying to finish.