The second of the new (to me) film cameras in my arsenal. A Hasselblad 500C medium format camera. There are many reasons to want one, the history, the sound, and its beauty.

The beauty is the design, the lines, the curves, and the simplicity. Even the serial number is artistic. Using the code 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 corresponding with the nine letters that spell V H P I C T U R E S (VH is for Victor Hasselblad), you can find out when your camera was made. Mine is serial number UV118703 – 1971. The body is uncomplicated, a black and chrome box, each part with a purpose, not a battery to be found. It is a work of art.

There are a few sounds. The winding, the opening of the viewer, the lens, and back attachment. The sound that is hard to describe is the shutter, clunk clunk, emphasis on the first clunk. I was familiar with the sound long before I had one. The first time you hear it, you stop. You know you heard something different. Wind the crank, push the stem, CLUNK clunk. It is addictive, a unique noise that those who know know. There are many videos celebrating the sounds.

The history, from Hendrix to the Moon and back again. Photographers Douglas Kirkland, Gerard Mankowitz, Sid Avery, Terry O’Neil, and Ansel Adams, photos you have seen and love have been taken with a Hasselblad. The Moon part was always cool to me, it was NASAs choice to send to space. The images we have seen taken on the Moon were taken with a Hasselblad.

Why I have one is as simple as the camera. I want to slow down, more with less. I am not ready to add it to the bag that goes on client jobs with me yet. The goal is maybe a roll at weddings. A Senior Portrait here and there, but ultimately I want to offer high-end headshots with it. For now, it is practiced one clunk clunk at a time.

tr/trp