Sundance Catalog

In the weeks leading up to the Holidays, our house received about a dozen catalogs a day. Places I never heard of or knew existed. Some repeated themselves once or twice a week. I felt sorry for our mail carrier and the recycling guy. After the new year, things settled down and one Sundance catalog promoting the 2008 film festival caught my eye.

Flipping through (I always start at the back and work towards the front - odd) I noticed in one shot, they had a vintage Rolleiflex camera sitting on the table as a prop along with what looks like a Mamiya rangefinder next to it. Looking closer, I realized the model was carrying a box with reels of film on a set designed to look like a darkroom. The Rolleiflex appears on other pages in the catalog, but it is not for sale. However, they will sell you a new Seagull camera manufactured in China and a very good value for the money. There was one other page where they were selling "vintage home movie cameras" from the '50s and '60s to decorate your home theater.

I guess where I'm going with this story is I'm glad there is still a lot of interest out there for film. Walking around downtown Chicago, I always see students with their manual cameras loaded with Tri-X film out on-assignment. Friday, I was in the Cultural Center taking pictures of the Tiffany Dome and I was stopped by somebody asking about my Leica. And, as I mentioned before, I always get a reaction when I pull out my Rolleiflex especially from the younger crowd. Film seems simpler. Nostalgic maybe. Makes you think before you take the picture rather than chimping afterwards. Hopefully it will be around for a long time.