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Antique Cameras A vintage touch to any living space by Corbin Crable
T he first vintage camera my father, Greg Crable, bought wasn’t intended to sit on a shelf, unused but appreciated. Nor was it supposed to actually be used to capture and preserve special moments. It was bought with the intention to be used as a child’s plaything. It was the early 1980s, and I remember that first camera, an Ansco Readyflash, kept downstairs in our family room. Dad had removed the blue flashbulb, as well as any smaller parts that might prove to be prob- lematic for a young child to handle. But he kept the bright red shutter lever, and I was mesmerized by the clicking noise it made — the same noise that is now so familiar to me as a journalist. The Ansco Readyflash is just one of the more than 40 cameras now in Dad’s collec- tion — and they’re still quite easy to find at any of the antique stores, consignment stores and flea markets that call the Kansas City metro area home. The Readyflash, developed in the 1950s, wasn’t as common as the Brownie box cam- era, which Eastman Kodak had invented at the turn of the century. The camera’s simple, square design made it a no-frills addition to the post-war photography industry, and its use skyrocketed in the middle of the 20th century. Early Brownie models were sold for only $1 – now, they can be found at antique stores (and online) for anywhere from $10 to $50 for the rarer models. “I found the Readyflash at the Veterans Thrift Store on Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City,” Dad told me one Saturday afternoon as he rifled through his collection. “After
A stack of Brownie cameras sit in the kitchen of Crable’s home. One of the more common cameras, they are widely available at antique stores, thrift shops and flea markets throughout the Kansas City metro area.
26 VINTAGEKC WINTER 2016
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