Anyone fancies getting involved in a travelling camera project…?
Many years ago over at Dyxum we had a community activity that was suggested by James Muñoz (a top film sound guy who got an award for the sound on the film ‘Buried’, among others). James found a little egg-with-legs toys (imaginatively dubbed ‘Mr and Mrs Egg’) that he photographed and then sent on to another Dyxumer somewhere who took and posted some pictures… The Eggs never got the whole way around the world. I blame postal services as Dyxum members are of impeccable character.
We did wonder if there was some mileage in a similar exchange-linky-thing. Could a camera be sent from one person to another, each taking part of a film and then sending it on? The original idea was to use one of the cheap late Dynax bodies (like a Dynax 5) – trouble was that the cameras were still desirable and would be likely to go missing fairly soon… It never happened.
But over at 35mmc…
However, it turns out that 35mmc has done this sort of stuff before. Back in 2013 a similar project was run (rather successfully). I give you The Travelling Yashica! This fascinating exercise led to many 35mmc followers sharing their images – which has to be a good thing!
More recently, Holly has also undertaken a travelling toy camera project. The first results of that can be found here.
The Camera
It strikes me that the Canonet is an ideal candidate for another run of this community experiment. High quality, built like a tank, not requiring batteries, virtually worthless (literally for customs purposes). A little heavy for parcel post, but not too bad.
The proposal
If I put a film in this Canonet and took 5 shots and then sent it on to someone, would they also take 5 shots and send it on..?
If the person who came to the end of the film was unable to process the film themselves (I stress I’m thinking B&W here folks), I’d be quite happy for them to mail me the film and for them to send it on with a new one…
The commitment
The commitment would be to receive the camera, take 5 (or more) pictures, replenish the film if you use it up – process any used-up film and post on to the next person.
So, at maximum:
- Share a contact email and a postal address with someone so they can send you a camera,
- Spend up to 1 week taking 5 pictures (or more) with a characterful camera from 1962,
- Possibly supply a B&W film if you reach the end of the film,
- Possibly either process a B&W film and post the results (or post the film to Greenwich, London, UK, with permission for me to post the results),
- Pay postage for a heavy-ish camera to somewhere that could be on another continent (marking value at zero for customs purposes) via a reasonable carrier…
The interested parties
If we got a list together of interested people, we might be able to get something going.
Of course, the camera might go missing really early on – but, nothing ventured, nothing gained… At the very least my wife will be glad that at least one camera has left the building.
To show your interest please contact me via [email protected] and post a comment below. Any comments including contact details will stay hidden. I will gather together the email addresses of those interested and send further details as soon as we have a suitable number of participants. It would be useful to know at least a city/region to plan out a logical order. There is no time limit for this as the list can be quite dynamic.
UPDATE
Response has been overwhelming – well over 50 participants from 4 continents!
I have supplemented the original Canonet, which is starting off in the UK, with a Canonet 28 (see https://www.35mmc.com/22/06/2021/canonet-28-review-the-modest-canon-by-bob-janes/), which is going from the end of the list (north America) to the UK.
Latest as of 10 March 2023:
The original Canonet is now with its 18th photographer.
The Canonet 28 is now on its way to its 23rd photographer.
I’m hoping results will be published soon.
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Martin Siegel on An Open Invitation to the Travelling Canonet project – By Bob Janes
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Bob
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Happy to join in, email sent
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Sent an E-Mail :)
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Email Sent!
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I'd love to participate.
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Alessio on An Open Invitation to the Travelling Canonet project – By Bob Janes
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I would like to participate in this interesting project
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