Family Camera History - Part 3

Kodak Six-20 C Camera

I posted an earlier blog about taking my mother's camera to a local camera store that also works with analogue cameras. 

Her first camera was the Kodak Six-20 C produced in the 1930s. I am sure that this was the camera she used as a teenager to produce her first photo album.

Here are some photos that were taken during this time period.

The Gabuzda Family at home in Freeland, PA. Martha sitting first on the left on the couch to the right of her father, Stephen A. Gabuzda.

I found a copy of the Kodak Six-20 Instruction Manual online. Looking at the Price List at the end of the manual, I found more answers to this camera. The most important fact was that a roll of 620 film only had 6 exposures! The cost was $.25 for a roll of film. So there were not 9 pictures as I had hoped, but Mom had taken all 6 exposures & ready to take out the roll of film when the winding key had broken off of the camera. No wonder the film was never developed! 

                              Notice the broken winding key.

I got a phone call from George's Camera Store informing me that my pictures were ready to be picked up. I was so excited. I opened the envelope & a large roll of negatives rolls right onto the floor. Of the six pictures, only three came out that could be recognizable. 

Print #1

Print #2

Print #3

By the content of the photos, I assume these were taken around 1954 when our family lived in San Diego, CA. We were a Navy family & we lived in this beautiful city in 1949-1950, 1952-1954, & 1961-1962.

I was surprised that mom still used this camera 15 years later when I have photos of her using a more updated camera in the late 1940s. 

Martha with her Brownie Reflex Synchro in 1948. Mom must have used both cameras until she could no longer use her Kodak Six-20 & stuffed it in the back of the drawer to be discovered 65 years later.

My father also used a movie camera. I found this camera with the other cameras. This he purchased when we lived in Japan in 1964-1965. Back in 2005, my brother (found a projector to show the films on). He then videotaped the movies as our mom spoke into a microphone narrating her memories what was taking place. I would love to take a look at them again. Before Japan, in the picture to the right, dad is taking movies when we lived in the Philippines in the late 1950s.

I also found this earlier photo taken in the mid-1950s, when we lived in Texas. Dad is setting up the film projector to share family movies with his parents.

I also found our Polaroid Pronto! 

I found many prints taken with this camera up to the 1980s. I tried to use this one last summer when my brother & his family came to visit. It was very difficult finding film. Amazon came to the rescue. I took one shot of 3 generations of surfers. When I snapped the button for a second shot, the film jammed in the camera. Now I see why digital has taken over the world. 

Surfers Lola, Gib & Elias.