Today is National Camera Day.
Yes, I know there is a day for everything now. Since we are a photography site, though, I figured we should honor this day for cameras.
The National Day website/calendar has a historical timeline and facts about photography and cameras you can read here. From their site:
“Smile! National Camera Day is June 29, a day to celebrate the fact that photography, once so complicated it took a scientist to understand, is now part of our everyday lives. The word ‘photography’ is based on two Greek words that, when put together, mean ‘writing with light.’ It’s a beautiful way of describing what a camera lets us do — tell a story without the use of words.
“It all goes back more than 800 years to the invention of the camera obscura. Meaning “dark chamber,” the camera obscura was nothing more than a box with a hole on one side. Light would pass through the hole and into the dark interior of the box, where it would project an image onto the flat inner surface. Unfortunately, when the light was gone, the image disappeared — like Instagram, but without an actual photo.
“Fast-forward through the centuries to today, when everyone with a smartphone has a camera at their fingertips. Whether you love shooting film and changing lenses or prefer the ease of digital, use June 29 to focus on how cameras have made telling our stories easier than ever.”
Let’s all celebrate National Camera Day by sharing our own camera stories
Mine? The Kodak Instamatic X-15 which I received when I was 10 years old. With my first paycheck when I was 16, I bought myself the Minolta XG-1 35mm film camera. Over the years I had that, which was what I used the most, a Sony Digital Mavica that stored images on a 3.5-inch floppy disk, a Kodak Advantix camera to play with panoramas mostly and a Kodak Disc camera which had the film in the form of a flat disc.
I also had a Kodak EasyShare, which I primarily used to take images of items to sell on eBay. I used a Minolta Maxxim when my Minolta XG-1 stopped working and needed something in a hurry. The only one of these I still have is the Minolta Maxxim, and I acquired my brother’s Canon AE-1, which I still use.
In the comments below, tell us what your first camera was. Do you still have it? What was it that sparked your interest in photography in the first place?
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