PONOKA — Camera collector Barry Neath can only wonder what images his century-spanning collection captured in their day.
“Imagine all these cameras and the history and the pictures they would have,” he says, framed by shelves full of his cyclopean finds.
Unfortunately, most of the stories behind the 300 or so cameras he has collected over the last 25 years have been lost.
But not all. One of his favourite cameras is an old billows-style Kodak dating from before the First World War that is a reminder of love lost. The camera was given to a farmer’s daughter by the farm’s hired man, who had hoped to marry her. But their different faiths doomed his plans when the marriage was forbidden by the girl’s family.
“The day he left for the First World War, he gave her this camera as a present for her,” says Neath, 67, who retired a few years ago after a long career managing stores in the Co-op chain.
The disappointed suitor died in the war. The woman would never marry and later passed the camera on to a nephew, who gave it to Neath. “I wish I had the history on every camera,” he says.
“That one always has a spot in my heart.” His favourite camera is a Graflex Speed Graphic that uses glass negatives.
It’s the kind of camera that newspapermen would carry in the first half of the 1900s. For instance, it was the tool of choice for Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, who documented the gritty underside of New York in the 1930s and ’40s. His nickname was a phonetic spelling of ouiji, which he was dubbed for his amazing ability to show up at a crime scene at just the right time.
All of the big names in cameras, Brownie, Kodak, Canon, Polaroid and many others, are represented in Neath’s collection, which catalogues a century of technology changes. About 80 of his cameras are on display at Ponoka Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Centre at 4900 Hwy 2A. Neath is a past chamber manager and still helps out regularly.
Showing off his collection is one of the best parts of the hobby, he says. “They’ve been at the museum in town. They’ve been at the agricultural fair twice.”
His collection has sent more than a few visitors to the centre on trips down memory lane. “The people who come into the information centre, they just says, ‘Wow,’” he says with a smile.
“It’s a real conversation piece.”
Visitors to the Ponoka County Fair next summer can get a look at the collection and it will also be on display next year at the Fort Ostell Museum in the town.
Neath began collecting at the suggestion of a friend, who collected cigarette lighters. “He said, ‘Why don’t you collect something so I’ve got something else to look for.’ ”
Later, he was at an auction mart when he saw a box of cameras sitting on the floor. “I thought, geez, I like photography. That could be something for me to collect.”
With that $5 box of cameras, his collection was born. In the years since, he has been given cameras by dozens of friends and others aware of his hobby. He also scouts garage sales and auctions. But he’s not interested in spending thousands.
The most he ever spent on a single camera was $100 at an auction that got more competitive than he had expected. That’s when he got the Speed Graphic.
Neath said he’s always on the hunt for new acquisitions.
He is also still actively pursuing his photography hobby. He enjoys finding old farmyards and capturing their return to nature as buildings decay and the landscape grows up around them.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com