Friday, February 5, 2016

Smile for the camera

Eva Pilgrim  with her Box Brownie
Easter 1928 - Age 18
Stawell Gift
My grandmother, Eva Scott (nee Pilgrim), loved her "snaps".  She was proud that she had saved for her Kodak Box Brownie, which I now own.

There are albums and albums full of Gran's photos.  The old albums and photos taken with the Box Brownie in the earlier years are my favourite.  She was naturally a great photographer!  Anyone who reads my blog regularly will have admired many of her photos, which provide an insight into a different time.  

Gran received several awards at the Nhill Agricultural Show for her photos.  She also had many photos published in the Weekly Times.  I am looking forward to further issues of the Weekly Times being digitised, so that I can view them on the National Library of Australia archive Trove.

Many of the earlier, so called colour, photos in her albums have turned pink or orange. In later years she purchased postcards on her travels, rather than taking photos.

I would love to be able to talk to my grandmother now!  We have more in common than I ever realised!  Maybe my love of travel, photography and family history is genetic?   Did she recognise that we have a lot of similarities?  I will never know!


Eva Pilgrim, with her Box Brownie, at her Grandmother's home in Baille Street West, Horsham
June 1930
Is that steam coming from a laundry?

Pilgrim Family Gathering - Winiam 1934
Eva Pilgrim with her Kodak Box Brownie

My first camera looked like this (a Kodak also)
Gran's first camera - Kodak Box Brownie - remains
in excellent condition (with a use manual)





















Me on a theme park ride in 2013

My Grandmother, Eva Scott, in 1990 (age 80)















The camera is never far away!






I was  snapped snapping in 2015
My daughter took this and said (A typical Mum pose)






















This prompt was inspired by Sepia Saturday.  Click for more posts.

28 comments:

  1. The first camera I used was a box Brownie then I got a Brownie Vecta. Used to love taking photos as a kid and have since taken them all my life. Dad got rid of his Box Brownie but I inherited his sisters which is a bit newer and I still have

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And you take great photos too! It took me a while to move to digital (from a Minolta SLR)!
      My most recent acquisition was an underwater camera.

      Delete
  2. Lovely memories of your grandmother and how wonderful to have her collection of photographs. My uncle was a keen photographer and I have some examples of his work - my favourite one of the local church in springtime, as this is where my Danson ancestors were baptised, married and buried.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only I had been shown the albums while I Gran was alive! How I would have loved to discuss them with her!

      Delete
  3. Great camera shots! Yep, I also started taking photos with a Kodak Box Camera. Insta-matic next, then those throw-away cameras for a while. Finally got an SLR when I was in college in the 80's, and used different ones until digital (Kodak no less) came along in the early 2000's. Now I'm using the phone more than my digital latest one with bells and whistles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My first digital camera was a Kodak, but I wasn't thrilled with it. I have decided that my advanced compact digital camera is just as good as a DSLR. My daughter takes some amazing photos with her phone.

      Delete
  4. I started out with a Kodak box Brownie. Along the way I had an Instamatic & several other cameras including a Polaroid, & two different Fuji Discovery cameras before I finally went to a Kodak digital.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have never used a Box Brownie but otherwise your journey is very similar to mine!

      Delete
  5. I was surprised when Mr. Mike spied a Box Brownie in one of my Aunt Helen's photos - I thought it was a purse! I wonder if future generations will look at your pictures and say, "There's great-great-grandmother Sharon with a camera that used film. Imagine that!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love Wendy's comment about people being surprised at a camera which used film. I hadn't stopped to think of that The digital cameras have been around for quite a while now. I'm going to start quizzing the grandchildren to see of they know what film is. Full marks to your grandmother for her collection.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is great when someone in the family is the photographer. such a great gift she has left you with all those photos from a time in the past. My mother had always her Kodak and left many photos from the early 1930s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fantastic! Gran's photos start in 1928, when she was 18.

      Delete
  8. Good to have some sime photos of family photographers at work, as Usually they are behind the lens rather than in front of it. I know I much prefer taking photos to being in them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hated being in photos until about 3 years ago, when I had my teeth removed and now have implants! Wish I had done it years ago! Love my smile now!

      Delete
  9. Sometimes I wish I was more of a saver. My box camera along with the ones my parents had are long gone, though some of the photos remain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another thing that I thank my grandmother for.........and I am glad that I inherited the collectors gene also

      Delete
  10. My father was the best photographer in the family but as a child I hated that it always took him so long. Don't you wonder how amazed photographers from the 40's or 50's would be at all our wonderful digital stuff. That said, I love the Brownie and all the history recorded on those cameras. You're lucky to have inherited those genes from your aunt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My kids always say that I take too long also!

      Delete
  11. The first photo is a delight, and I'm amazed that you still have her camera and manual.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gran was amazing. She kept everything (including boxes) and looked after things very well.

      Delete
  12. A terrific collection of cameras and photographers. I've inherited my dad's collection of old box cameras and other early photo gear, and I can tell you that an original camera manual is more rare than the camera! I recognize your modern Canon digital camera too, which happens to be like the one I have. I constantly refer to its digital manual stored on my computer as it is far more complicated than any older film camera. Not that they were easy, what with adjusting f-stops and shutter speeds, but at least they didn't talk back like the modern cameras do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds like we should get together and compare notes! Many family members have given me their old cameras, which are primarily Kodah but also some Polaroids. It is a great camera isn't it! Yes, I often refer back to the manual too as the camera does so much!

      Delete
  13. What a nice history of the camera in your family. You certainly did inherit her DNA and love of photography.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting! And my daughter has a natural photography ability too!

      Delete
  14. The fact you have the Brownie manual is amazing! I'm jealous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gran maintained things so well, that the camera most likely would work if I could get film and develop!

      Delete