At Delaney's No. 1

Take your camera everywhere – even (or especially) to a night on the town. This is the place for a small camera (such as the Ensign 16-20) and a pocket-sized tripod. A miniature 35mm such as the Zeiss Contessa, or, if you wish to take a break from being vintage, a pocket-sized digital camera with the option for a fast lens and high effective ISO speeds, may make the difference between getting and missing a unique low-light image.

At Delaney's #2

Some years ago, my wife and I were in Denver’s LoDo District on the 16th Street Mall. and charming old-town district of pubs, bookstores, theaters, and restaurants. I took my 1928 No. 1 Kodak and tripod with me, and was fortunate to capture one of my first vintage night images of Janie outside the Tattered Cover bookstore (see “Lurking in the Churchyard“). We stopped for dinner at Delaney’s Irish Pub, and I was fascinated by its small indoor bowling alley.

Watching two young women sip beer at the alley, I unobtrusively propped my digital camera on the bar as one as one tried her hand with the ball while her partner, bottle in hand, watched. I captured one image as she lined up her shot, and one as she wound up with the ball in hand. The slow shutter speed and blurred image convey the sense of movement as she prepares to release the ball.

This is a shot that would have been essentially impossible under these lighting conditions using the Kodak, with its f/6.3 lens and tiny viewfinder, and is a good argument for combining both film and digital media.