Collections: Analog Cameras

This guest post comes from one of our customers, Meghan Hollister. We are so excited to share her collection, analog (film) cameras with you!

Hi everyone! I'm Meghan and I'm here to share my budding camera collection with you. My love for photos began when I was young--when I started collecting old pictures to make a family tree. I knew I wanted to start capturing my life and what I see/do/experience, so I started studying photography in high school while living in Southeast Asia. I moved to SLO to study Art at Cal Poly, and have lived here ever since taking photos working mainly as a product photographer. I am constantly fighting off (but usually giving into) the travel bug, something I get from the fact I moved every couple years growing up. I lived in Ecuador, England, Thailand, and Malaysia--often traveling to other countries capturing what I saw through a lens. 

I started taking photographs about 11 years ago while living in Malaysia. Our family friend was my photo teacher and he would take me out to local markets to photograph the buzz of the early morning produce hauls. Because of him, I shot a lot of film in the beginning. I lived in the darkroom and was hesitant to start shooting on digital cameras. He always had some “new” camera for me to try out, and I loved them--so I started collecting them.

Actually, I didn't even realize I had a collection of cameras because I’m never looking for a specific camera to add to a collection. Some of the cameras work (or sort of work) and some don’t, but I don’t mind because part of my collection is adding something cool to put on my shelves, and the other part is exploring a fading art form through the evolution of film cameras.

I was given a Pentax ME from my uncle, a Minolta Hi-matic from a friend, and a Polaroid LMS Sun 600 from my mother. I bought a Kodak Automatic 8 movie camera at a flea market, and the Cambo Calumet 4x5 at Jim’s Campus Camera. I found the Brownie Starflex at a thrift shop in Chicago and bought the Polaroid Highlander from Ruby Rose!

I’ve only shot with a few of the cameras, but I look forward to experimenting with them soon and adding more to my collection!