In 1964 The Beatles were hitting their straps with A Hard Day's Night, Homicide debuted on Australian TV and the Rolleiflex 3.5F was among the most sophisticated medium format cameras on the market.
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Fast forward to 2019 and The Beatles again have a number one album, crime shows are still captivating TV audiences and film cameras are making somewhat of a renaissance.
Empty Stocking Appeal 2019: Target of $90,000 for appeal's 111th year
12 months ago a proposal was put to me; Find the oldest camera possible and take it out to make a series of images for a spread in The Examiner.
After making some calls, my former photography teacher Scott Cunningham offered up a camera that would fit the brief and provide something of a challenge.
With a waist-level viewfinder, and only the basic manual controls of aperture, shutter speed and focus, the Rolleiflex is a long way from the high end Nikon digital SLR cameras that we use to bring you the pictures in the daily editions of our newspaper.
Over the course of eight months, the camera was used to capture images from iconic events such as the Launceston Cup, Symphony Under the Stars and Junction Arts Festival's Tweed Run, giving modern Tasmanian life a decidedly vintage look.
However the camera's greatest strength was it's ability to become a talking point.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison wrapped up a press conference in Burnie and made a beeline to me, having a hold of the camera and look through the viewfinder at the square image format that the Rollei captures.
Sam Neill was in Launceston as a guest of the Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival, and happily made the television cameras wait while we did a quick photo shoot in the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery courtyard.
Neill told the story of his father using a Rolleiflex when he was a child.
Memories of the camera from childhood was a story often repeated by people as I was spotted out an about snapping scenes of Tasmania, with some people amazed that the film for the camera was still even produced.
This project also allowed me to revisit my own childhood, with images of the Batman Bridge, Symmons Plains and the Tasmanian coast echoing some of the first images I took as a seven year old with a Haminex 110 camera.
Positive Impressions; 55 images of modern Tasmania through a vintage lens, is on show at the Academy Gallery, Inveresk, 9-5 Weekdays until November 1.
Prints from the collection are available to purchase with money going to the Empty Stocking Appeal.
Scott Gelston
Photographer, music lover and sports fan.
Photographer, music lover and sports fan.
