Hawkeye
S-20 Hawkeye by Kodak
By Carlos Aviles
25 May 2008
When I was born, my fathers brother was 15. Gramps had an old camera that he gave him, and he used to take photos of practically everything.
Growing up he was the family photographer, and soon graduated to more sophisticated cameras. His trusty Hawkeye went to collect dust on the top shelf of a forgotten closet.
The original owner of the Hawk Eye series was the Boston Camera Co. It was bought by Blair in 1890, and later by Kodak in 1907. Named The Blair Camera Division, the company relocated to Rochester, NY.
Some models where made in England from 1929-39. The Num. 2 Hawkette was the first plastic camera manufactured by Kodak in 1930. Mine is an S-20 folding, manufactured from 1933-34.
In one of his moves my mother saw the camera and asked him about it. She remebered all the photos he took while she was dating my dad.
- You want it? Take it.
So the camera went to collect a different kind of dust on a top shelf at our house.
In college I started to use my first serious camera, a Canon AT1 with a non working meter that a frind lent me. I dicovered the old Kodak while helping my mom on spring cleaning in 1978. She told me I could have it. I bought a roll of 620 B&W film and I was amazed by the results. I took pics of everything I found, just like my uncle. Some of them I got posted in flickr because the size is not big enogh for JPG. Sadly I lost the negatives but have some of the prints.
The camera still works. I can't find the film anymore and now it is collecting dust on my closet.
