Bashed Camera - A Blessing In Disguise

Three different cameras (each boasting a different brand name) were used in the making of my vast library of super 8 films during the hectic movie making years of the 1970s and 80s. Eventually, each of these machines would, in turn, be replaced with a more advanced, higher priced camera; providing me with progressively better image quality.

However, I've often wondered if a change would have been made AT ALL if my first camera (the old Bell & Howell cheap-o-reeno) had not been accidentally bashed against a rock one day while out shooting scenes with Doug and Paul in Dundarave - an event which rendered it completely stupid. The motor ceased to function from that minute on and it was only because I then found myself 'cameraless' (gasp!) that I bothered to invest in, what would turn out to be, an upgrade to a more modern Canon.

If the change in equipment had not been forced upon me when it was, my entire super 8 collection would have been, while not exactly ruined, certainly diminished. The bashing of electronics against rock was ultimately a good thing.

Presented in this short video (below) are random scenes (in progressive order) showcasing each of the three cameras in my possession. In fact, the opening scenes are the actual FINAL images ever recorded using the Bell & Howell from that day in Dundarave, 1973. Death would occur soon after. In the next snippet we see Tracy as she was in 1976 captured on the Canon; and finally, for a few scenes of Bartholomew Woods running the Stanley Park seawall in 1979, I used the Rolls Royce of super 8 cameras, the Nikon R10.

(Trivia note: Yes, table hockey fanatics, that's THEE BOB DELANEY catching 'high skies' from Bart.)