On Sunday I joined my friend and Monalog Collective co-member Peter Schrager for an action packed photographic road in Pennsylvania.  Our first stop was at the Best Western Plus Hotel in Bensalem, PA, about a half hour or so from where I live. We had discussed finding a date to see the Larry Fink/Judith Joy Ross double bill show at the Allentown Museum of Art and Peter mentioned his plans to drive down from Connecticut to go to Photorama USA at its Pennsylvania stop.  I love camera shows and hadn’t been to one since before the pandemic, so needless to say I was excited to go!!! We quickly set a date when we could do our road trip double header!!

We arrived at the Best Western in the morning just as things were getting underway in the morning and walked in. It looked like things were pretty much the same as the last time.  The show organizer and some of the dealers recognized me which was nice, and at first glance things pretty much looked the same … lots of stuff scattered with no rhyme or reason on lots of tables.

But it really wasn’t the same.  Almost everything was analog!!!!  From cameras (35mm, medium format and large format) to accessories, to film, and darkroom tidbits. We even checked out a stash of darkroom items in the trunk of someone’s car in the parking lot. But beyond the fact that there was hardly any digitalia to be found, prices had gone up dramatically for most of the used cameras you could previously pick up for a song. And much of what I saw was in “user” condition! Most shocking of all were the prices for medium format cameras such as Hasselblad, Mamiya 7, Rollei, etc. Sky high, e.g., $3500 for a user Mamiya 7 (not eve 7IIA!) and 80mm lens!

I didn’t spend anything except the fin to get in … I couldn’t afford to … but I had a lot of fun just looking at all the neat gear and talking to the dealers. Back in the car and driving to Allentown I thought about what was going on here. Look, the guys sitting behind the tables were there for one reason only – to make money!  So they brought stuff to sell they knew had the best chance to be bought. To me what was at the show and what was not, along the high prices was yet another set of signs that film is back!!!!

Yeah baby!!!

Stay well,

Michael