» The Spot Studio – The Spot for photography classes in Dallas http://spotstudio.com Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:55:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Moldy Cameras http://spotstudio.com/2009/06/moldy-cameras/ http://spotstudio.com/2009/06/moldy-cameras/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:05:32 +0000 headmaster http://spotstudio.com/?p=932 I have a collection of toy and cheap cameras that I started about 30 years ago. My rule for the first couple of years was that I would’t spend more than a dollar. Sometimes I would find 5 or 6 at a thrift store. Then my family started looking for them. I still get a bag of garage sale cameras every Christmas from my brother.  I now have probably 500-600 cameras stashed in cardboard boxes on some industrial shelves at the studio.

For a while there has been a tiny leak in one of the concrete studio walls and I was dutifully collecting the water in a bucket. When I went to the studio yesterday during a downpour I discovered water dripping from a new place, right under the shelf that holds my collection. Turns out a trickle of water had been going into one of the boxes for the last few months. Unwrapping the cameras was gross and sad. I had to throw away about a half dozen, including a nice small wood view camera that had fallen apart. The biggest shock was this Argus C3, which was in its original box. The box was a black, sodden, smelly mess. I’m guessing that the combination of water, darkness and the leather case made a perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew.

moldy Argus C3

A few more photos:

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