I Have Fallen in Love with a Camera

This is me:



This is me with a Werra 1 35 mm with a Tessar 2,8/50 lens:


This camera is so badass. Made in 1950s, communist-controlled East Germany, it came out remarkably well made and attractive, and it probably overheard at least three people talk about the Gulag while it was still in the factory! And guys, you should hear the sounds it makes when you snap a shot and wind the film. It's like going back in time, without having to become a repressed house wife.

The best thing is, the camera takes straight up 35mm. It is just standing the test of time so well. It makes me a proud German. überproud.

Perhaps you're wondering how I could be so lucky as to get my paws on this little sex-machine of a gadget. It is all thanks to the seriously, mind-blowingly cool Levi's Photo Workshop. I don't understand how they make everything so free, accessible and awesome, but they do it. Let me give you a run down of the kind of Funland production they have going on down on Wooster Street:

• There are about 40 vintage cameras like my beloved Werra, spanning several decades and a world wide range of manufacturers. For a $100 or $200 deposit, you can take the camera of your choice out on the town for 24 hours and take all the pictures your heart desires. Return it, and get the full deposit back. It is so deliciously f-r-e-e, free. Bonus: put down your deposit on Sunday, like I did, and get the camera for 48 hours, because the workshop is closed on Mondays. Huzzah! (what's with that?)
  
• They also have GIANT photo printers, also for free. Just burn your digital pictures on to a CD and get on the queue. (Warning: it's usually about an hour wait, and they tend to run out of larger paper, so get in early!) You can print pictures on paper up to 30 x 40 inches. That's an honest-to-god poster of your artsy fartsy photos, for free. And that's just down right incredible.
  
• You can also go in and have an artsy fartsy photo shoot. You guessed it -- for free. They have all these wild cameras and lighting and back drops, for which I know absolutely zero terminology, and you can just go to town with your inner model/designer/Andy Warhol self. When I popped in, there were chicks dressed as goth bunnies with peacock tails strutting around for the camera. So, yeah, do what you want.
• There's a cute little photo booth (see pictures above) that you can hop in front of for free as well. And if you're not so selfish like me, you can leave your pictures there, and they'll go in a "yearbook" which will be produced when the work shop ends.

So... duh, you're going, right? The workshop is going on until December 18th. Basically, it will be taking over my life until then. Also, look what I found on eBay that I am about to blow a bunch of money on:


God, Werra, I love you so, so much. Update clearly coming when I get my film developed.