Purple sky and alpine mountain range (Alphubel, Täschhorn and Dom) in the Valais Alps, Switzerland, 1992
It is again time to bid farewell to a once appreciated camera and to honor the service it provided and the invaluable experiences it permitted with a few photographs. The photographs shown in this blog post were taken with my old and almost antiquarian Konica FT-1, which I have just sold. It was the second (and last) Konica body that I have owned and used on many trips and hikes during my youth. Konica cameras were the first SLRs that I owned, which is why I feel particularly attached to these cameras. The Konica Autoreflex TC and FT-1 were the perfect tools to learn and practice photography when I was still in school. They were very resistant bodies with refreshingly few and simple switches and neither the bodies nor the lenses were expensive but nevertheless of excellent quality. Already when I bought my first Konica, the brand was on the skids even though they were very inventive and progressive in the early days of SLRs. If you wonder why you have not come across any Konica camera recently, it is because their camera business merged with Minolta (another extinct, prehistoric animal) and later disappeared when it was terminated and sold to Sony.
Despite my fond memories, I have not been using any of my film photo cameras since many years and felt burdened by their unused existence in a box in a cupboard. Therefore, I am really happy that I found somebody who will actually be using my camera companion of the past. In line with my credo for moderation and my motto that less is often more, reducing equipment is liberating and beneficial. I am on the right path: During the last years I have been selling far more cameras (two) and lenses (four) than I have bought (1 lens). I still own more lenses than I can use and also have two functional cameras that are not used anymore sitting in a cupboard waiting to find a more appreciative user (or to be put down in a recycling station).
Despite my fond memories, I have not been using any of my film photo cameras since many years and felt burdened by their unused existence in a box in a cupboard. Therefore, I am really happy that I found somebody who will actually be using my camera companion of the past. In line with my credo for moderation and my motto that less is often more, reducing equipment is liberating and beneficial. I am on the right path: During the last years I have been selling far more cameras (two) and lenses (four) than I have bought (1 lens). I still own more lenses than I can use and also have two functional cameras that are not used anymore sitting in a cupboard waiting to find a more appreciative user (or to be put down in a recycling station).
Piz Palü, Bellavista and Crast Agüzza as seen from the Diavolezza, Engadin, Switzerland, 1990
Cloudscape with balloon, Siegsdorf, 1991
Wintery tree silhouette and sunset in the bavarian mountains, Chiemgau, 1993
Fog flowing into the Wimbachgriess, Berchtesgaden Alps, 1993
