This is the pond at Choate Park in Medway, photographed today, May 31, 2026, around 2 pm.

I have far better shots at this very spot — more than I can count — but none can compare to this one and the 7 others that follow below.

The camera is a Kodak Vest Pocket (KVP), also known as the Soldier’s Camera, because it was wildly popular during the war — The Great War — WW1. Mine is from 1915, one of the first cameras to use 127 film. It has a trapdoor on the back that lets the user etch notes into the film with a stylus after each frame is taken. Mine is still attached. I even have the original advert for it hanging in my studio – ‘Put a Kodak in Your Pocket’ pharmacy promo.

I had not used this camera before today. I spent some time with it this morning getting it into working order. It came to me in decent condition, but being 111 years old, it needed some attention. I took it into the darkroom and checked for light leaks by shining a flashlight through the seals and bellows. I got the shutter loosened up. The viewfinder needs a cleaning, but it served its purpose. Gaffer’s tape over anything suspicious, and I was ready for film.

The film is a story in its own right — one I’m not entirely clear on. I have no memory of where it came from. I believe it was tossed in with a bunch of stuff I picked up at Brimfield, maybe 10 years ago. A never-opened roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan 127, still in the box, expired June 1974.

The original plan was to unroll it, use the backing paper to re-spool modern film onto the old spool, and shoot the camera with something that might actually work. Then it occurred to me — I had nothing to lose. Load the old film. It works, it works. It doesn’t, I still have the spool and backing paper and I try again.

It worked.

My 111-year-old camera, loaded with film that expired 52 years ago. Eight exposures. I had no expectations. I went to my testing ground and tried different settings. This camera doesn’t have settings like most cameras — its apertures are labeled: 1 Near View Portrait, 2 Average View, 3 Distant View, 4 Clouds Marine. Shutter speeds: 25, 50, T, B. I modified my development time to give the old emulsion its best chance, and processed the roll by hand in my darkroom.

I was genuinely shocked when I unrolled the strip and saw real negatives.

The oldest camera and film I’ve ever shot. My first time working with 127. A pain to spool for development. And one of the best projects I’ve ever done. I might pick up more 127 film, or use that backing paper to roll my own — but no matter what I shoot in the future, nothing will match today. Something was created from what I fully expected would be nothing.

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Old stuff deserves old gear. Armed with two film cameras, I headed to the Brimfield Antiques Show today. Rain and gray made the black-and-white even more appropriate. The wide angles are my 1976 Widelux 7, and the ‘standard’ sized photos are the 1952 Leica IIf. Both loaded with Kodak TX400 film, processed in my studio when I returned today, all ready to share the same day. I am loving seeing the world through film again. It’s beautiful.

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In the fall of 1996, not long after I bought my photo store, there was a flea market in the parking lot on a Saturday. A kid came in looking for film for a camera he’d just bought at the sale — paid a few bucks for it. He was annoyed when I didn’t stock it. In 1996, nobody did. It was a dead format.
I tried to explain that it was actually a remarkable camera. A 110 that accepted interchangeable lenses. I’d never seen one. He wasn’t impressed.
So I offered him five dollars and a disposable camera. He left happy. I got the camera.
It was broken — the advance arm wasn’t engaging — but it didn’t matter. No film anyway. So it went on display, moved from shelf to shelf, store to studio, for the next thirty years.
I recently started buying film stock to test cameras in the collection. When I found a roll of 110, I picked up the Pentax. I was going to run it through a Rolleiflex 110 I have, but that one needs a battery mod first. So I decided it was finally time to fix the camera I’d been moving around for three decades. Twenty minutes, a YouTube video, and a small screwdriver. Done.
I took it for a walk.
The Pentax Auto 110 is the smallest SLR ever made – check out the museum post to see it. The viewfinder might be the smallest I’ve ever looked through. My eyes aren’t what they were, and the shutter is touchy — I tripped it a few times before I was ready. One double exposure from the advance arm acting up mid-roll, though a tap fixed it.
I haven’t shot 110 since I was maybe nine years old. I think I borrowed my mom’s camera for a field trip before I got my own disc camera. I loved it.
I developed the roll in my studio. Twenty-four frames of imperfect, beautiful moments. The grain, the soft edges, the slightly wrong colors — these are the photographs of my childhood. If I’d made any of these with my Z9, I wouldn’t be posting them. Shot on a forty-five-year-old camera I bought for five dollars and a disposable, with film in a format the world gave up on, love them all.
Perspective.

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I shot three rolls of film in the last 24 hours. All color, but that’s where the similarities end.

I used my Rolleiflex 3.5f on 120 medium format — giving it another test after its own recent servicing. I also repaired my Pentax Auto 110 yesterday. Some YouTube videos and screwdrivers later, I brought a 1980 110 SLR back to life — the world’s smallest SLR, btw — and shot my first roll of 110 film since I was 13.

The third camera was an old friend who had been away. My Panon Widelux 7 was sent out for service last May. The experts we trust with cameras like this are few, and they’re dealing with backlogs. Patience is a virtue in photography in more ways than one — it had been gone 11 months. It came back Monday. This morning I had 4 frames left on the roll, so I finished it in the studio.

I developed all three rolls in the darkroom today. I challenge anyone to find the last person who developed 120, 135, and 110 film all at the same time by hand. While I wait for Guinness to call me with the details on that record, I’ve chosen to share this one – the last shot taken out of all three rolls of film.

The museum shot. My happy place: My Barn. My Studio. My Collection. My Film Cameras. My Darkroom. My Widelux. My Photography. My Opportunities. All in one frame.

More on all three rolls tomorrow.

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Brought two cameras back to life today. First up, my Pentax K1000, which has been shot a few times over the years, but it started in 1993. One of the first rolls was taken at this very spot 33 years ago – I added it below. I have picked up a bulk roll of film to run some short rolls through these old cameras to see how they work. I cleaned the Pentax up, and it is working great. It still is a great camera. All processed by hand in the studio.

The second camera is a 1973 Yashica Electro Range Finder. If you would like to see the results from that one, you can jump over to my TRP Obsurca page, where I will be posting results from all my film projects.

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From 1993:

Rest of the current roll taken: