Going down memory lane, my last buckle... Old pics and film photography ;-)

[Doppelgänger]

The other day in my previous Heer buckle thread, somebody said "maybe this is your first buckle" because maybe I seemed overly enthusiastic about the buckle... ;-) To which I replied "not my 1st buckle"... because technically that was right, which set me to wondering where this one pic I knew I had was, a 4x5 contact sheet from something I'd shot with a wartime 4x5 Speed Graphic I use to own, and shot lots of stuff with, amazing camera, so quick to use, Schneider-Kreuznach lens. German glass of course...

Anyway, I'd been looking for this pic, and gave up. Only today, as a larger part of a spring cleaning/eBay selling jag, I found the three ring binder in question, contacts sheets from countless rolls of 35mm, 120 film, and 4x5.

This most probably was not (even then) my first buckle, but it was most certainly my last at the time. This was a period in time where I got rid of everything I'd collected for almost 10 years. This was around 1995.

The buckle is quite obviously a mid war steel buckle, the boot knife I so regret selling, still regret to this day. In fact I regret it more each day because I am a knife collector as well. I do know who I sold it to, and I do know how to find this person, although... he's a collector/wheeler dealer and for all I know he was rid of it within a week of trading me out of it.

The 7.65 Cal Walther PP was at the time my last WWII pistol, the last of possibly a hundred wartime German pistols, and one of the most interesting. It was a very late war "Verchromt" PP, these were usually a private purchase type of gun, except that this one is obviously Waffen proofed. Wood grips of course. This was really a very unusual Walther PP, possibly having belonged to a high ranking general, or so.

I'd have to look at my records to see where it went, but much of it was in code and I doubt I remember what any of it means.

Anyway, only to have it back...

The other pic I was awfully proud of, and still have a framed 16x20 of it. A panned shot of a kid skating, just the right mix of panning and blurred motion, and nearly sharp focus in a few of the right places. What was amazing about it was having done it on a 4x5. Not too many people doing action shots with those, even then...

[dramos]

What a shame you needed to sell off your collection. I often find myself in situations where I have to pass along an item to pay the bills or take care of other things. You never know, maybe the boot knife will make its way back to you .

I have been wanting to add a pistol to my collection for a while now, but my age will hinder that purchase for a few more months. But then i'll be free to do as I please, wallet willing haha.

Thanks for sharing these pictures, my grandfather who passed away in 2006 loved photography, especially non-traditional, "random" shots like yours above. Great pictures!