A Portuguese photographer who spent a decade collecting and shooting hundreds of different film cameras now wants to sell almost the entire collection.
Fernando Penim Redondo, a Lisbon-based amateur photographer, created a project called Flashback in 2012 after rekindling an interest in film cameras after his retirement.
The project led to him shooting two rolls a week on more than 500 cameras, all of them made in the 20th Century. He believes he shot more than 1,000 rolls of film during the course of the project.
After failing to find a partner who can display the collection he has built up, Redondo has said he wants to find a buyer for the complete collection.
Kosmo Foto saw Redondo’s post on various film photography Facebook groups, and he kindly answered the following questions via email.
Are you a photographer or just interested in cameras?
In 1968 I bought my first “serious” camera, a Pentax Spotmatic, and that became the camera of my life. With it I have been travelling the world until 2002, when I bought my first digital.
I photographed with the Pentax in Africa, USA, Brazil, USSR including Siberia, Morocco, Turkey, Mexico, Cuba and most of the European countries. In the 21st Century, with digital cameras I photographed in China, India, Egypt, Patagonia, Peru etc.
To glimpse my work I suggest the PIC-A-FOTO blog.
Since 2006 I have participated in around 50 photo and/or camera exhibitions.
That can be seen in my Exposicoes blog.
When did you start collecting the cameras?
I started the collection in 2012, buying an Yashica Mat 124G, and it was a very pleasant experience.
After that I have been acquiring and using old cameras for the next 10 years. In fact, in that period I shot more than one thousand rolls of film in various formats. I shot with 135, 127, 122, 828, 620, 110, 116, 118, 126, 616, APS etc. I was lucky to have found, in Lisbon, a lab willing to develop and scan those films.
In 2012 I suddenly became obsessed with the Idea of having used only one film camera my entire life.
From 2012 to 2022 I used, in average, a new camera and two rolls every week, in what I have named the “Flashback Project”. This produced a large amount of material that can be seen (a small part) here. You can also see it on Facebook.
Why did you start this project?
In 2012 I suddenly became obsessed with the Idea of having used only one film camera my entire life.
I started the collection with the feeling that film photography was disappearing and the opportunity to practice it would not last for long.
Now I feel I started something that changed my life and was very important in my ageing process.
How many cameras did you end up getting?
I bought and also accepted donations from friends. Today I own 560 film cameras, and I photographed with 519 of them.
The collection also comprises a number of old promotional flyers and manuals, a considerable number of ancient film rolls and various kinds of light meters, viewers, telemeters etc.
You can see all the cameras organised by decade, by type, by film format, by lens mount, by brand, etc, in my blog Cameramine, and also in my blog Cameralike.
Was there a plan to building up the collection or did it just keep building?
From the beginning I decided the cameras in the collection should not be for the shelves only. That is perhaps the most distinctive aspect.
I also choose to collect roll film cameras instead of plate or instant cameras.
Finally collected only 20th Century cameras (with a few exceptions).
What are your favourite cameras from this collection?
I don’t like to establish hierarchies. Of course I have cameras that are better shooters, more difficult to find, more expensive or famous. But for me what really counts is the diversity of features I was forced to understand and experience.
I confess that I get more satisfaction from cameras that are peculiar because of their looks, or present strange or unusual features and funny solutions.
Some cases: the Purma cameras‘ approach to shutter speed, the Voigtlander Vitessa film advance solution, the Corfield periscope instead of a conventional mirror, the extinction lightmeter in some Argus, Lumiére and Agilux cameras, 135 film TLRs, cameras equipped with early auto advance like the Yashica Sequelle, the Tessina, LOMO Leningrad, B&H Foton and so on.
This is an endless subject.
Where there any you were looking for you didn’t find yet?
I stopped buying for a while now.
There is a number of cameras I could buy, of course, provided I find them at a reasonable price.
The reason why I don’t buy anymore is the same reason why I consider selling the collection.
Why are you selling the collection?
I am 80 years old now. I am well, for the moment, but nobody knows for how long. I have not succeeded in finding a partner to display my collection in a public space.
Will you keep any?
Yes, I will keep my beloved Pentax Spotmatic.
Anyone interested in buying the collection can contact Redondo here.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
