RetroPhoto

Reviews / Votes

The creative approaches to his art, both in the shooting and the processing of snapshots, is wondrous to behold for anyone, but inspiring and motivating for those who appreciate the craft. From the various Kodak Brownie models to the Ricoh Rangefinder, this museum-quality collection casts a wide scope. From the double lens to the pinhole camera, the approaches to capturing light on film are breathtaking. RetroPhoto is a visual delight. -- Jen Forbus * ShelfAwareness * In this visually stunning book on vintage cameras, photographer Ellwand, who is also well known as a children's book author, provides a highly personal history and celebration of camera design. Drawing on his own personal collection of over 100 vintage cameras, Ellwand organizes the book into four chapters based on film format. Each chapter includes striking images of actual equipment as well as the photographs made with each of the cameras, interspersed with factoids illuminating the exposure processes. The design and layout of the book is also remarkable for its attention to detail, with colorful inside covers revealing all shapes and sizes of film boxes to reinforce the nostalgia for the medium. Captions are concise and informative, easily accessible to those new to the field as well as seasoned professionals looking for manufacturing or design history. Ellwand provides an enthusiastic, idiosyncratic look at photography's vintage history, enhanced with gorgeous and charming images documenting both elegant camera design and a photographer's talented eye. * Publishers Weekly * He unabashedly (for a Brit) enjoys the personality quirks of the vintage capture as far as it goes before indulging in the magic of modern digital photography. In fact, he devotes a whole chapter to the subject at the end of the book. You have to love that... There are two other things we like a lot about the tour of this collection. First the cameras are not pristine... The other thing we liked a lot are his explanations of the various categories of camera, which are clear enough for someone new to photography to appreciate... One day all these Rollies and film Leicas will be discovered on a closet shelf and the smartphone-toting survivors will wonder what they are. Ellwand can tell them not only what they are but how to keep using them and even work them into their digital lives. -- Mike Pasini * Photo Corners * ... a labor of love for the many ways photography developed in analogue and the cameras' disparate ways of capturing the world. -- Allison Meier * Hyperallergic *