My first camera had wheels on it!

On July 30^th 2016 I got my first working camera for the wet plate collodion process. I got a lead on a camera that was kept in the attic of a photo shop, somewhere in the old part of Bucharest, where time seems to have stopped a century ago. It wasn’t for sale but the owner was happy to use the opportunity to sell it to me. Good for me!

The camera was (and still is) a well kept and fully operational Globica Pentacon ll made in 1967, sold together with 2 plate holders and 3 different large format Carl Zeiss lens. Getting the camera home was not easy at all, as you can see it is quite large and with a heavy support, all sitting on 4 wheels. And since I don’t own a car I had to rent the services of a professional transport company for that. So, here I was, pushing this big ass camera on wheels around the narrow streets of old Bucharest to get to the main road where I was meeting the driver. The wheels were very small and had rust on them so pushing that was not that easy but I managed to finally get myself to the meeting point where I loaded the camera in a small pick-up track and finally went home.

This baby is still with me, and is my favorite camera to play with after almost 4 years of having it. It is very sturdy and well built, a versatile camera that I enjoy using. Unfortunately, being so big, it can’t really be used outside the studio, but I got several cameras in the meantime, most of them are smaller field cameras (mounted on a tripod) for large format photography on the go. I almost forgot to mention that the Globica can produce plates as large as 13×18 cm (5×7″).

However, not long after I got the camera and started working with it, I got my first invitation to do this outside the studio at a large social event, the 2016 Whisky Fest. Needless to say I went and had a great time and also managed to make lots of nice portraits over there. The camera was a success and attracted lots of people and of course business. Those were 2 crazy days and was invited again next year!

More events and invitations came after that and also started some nice projects on my own, but will talk more on this soon. So, don’t go too far. 😉