TIME magazine promo camera

My mother went on a closet-cleaning bender a couple weeks ago, and she unearthed an old fixed-focus 35mm camera that someone apparently got as a free gift for subscribing to TIME back when Reagan was prez. Doubtful it was ever used. So of course she gave it to me, but I didn't get around to using it until this past Labor Day weekend, in which I almost never left the house because there was a tropical storm. (We're fine, by the way. It was very mild and we never even lost power.)

Tropical Storm Lee 4, originally uploaded by pinstripe_bindi.

I got the photos back today and was like hmmm, what happened here? Damaged lens? (Note: This is never said in anger. The more flaws a camera has, the more I like it.)

Phil gives Hank a pistachio 2, originally uploaded by pinstripe_bindi.

But this photo I took of Hank begging in the kitchen looks fairly normal, albeit with a faded quality reminiscent of photos from the '60s and '70s. (The camera has a hot shoe and I used my Diana flash indoors.)

Then I realized that the lens just got fogged up outside. Gee, who knew that shooting outside during a tropical storm would be humid??

Anyway, this is a good illustration of why, when I first shoot with a new (old) camera, I always do it around the house or at fixed local locations, and I always use film I can buy in a drug store. You don't want to put rare film in it or take it to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when you have no idea what it's going to do.