My First Camera

My photography hobby began at an early age. In 1963-64 Mom and Dad bought me my first camera. I remember Mom ordering it from the Montgomery Ward catalog. I do not remember the exact price but it was somewhere around $1.50! The camera was a Tower Snappy which I turned around and always referred to it as my Snappy Tower. It took 620 film which was available in both B&W and color. My brother was shooting an old Ansco box camera that took 120 and Mom had a 127 so we never got our film mixed up. Most of our early photos were taken with B&W film as color was prohibitively expensive. When Mom would order in a new supply of film it was just like another Christmas Day! Soon rolls of film would be mailed off for developing and the two to three week turnaround seemed forever!

I still have the old Tower Snappy although it has been retired for many years

This photo was taken of me by my brother in 1964 when we were visiting a neighbors farm. I suppose it was our version of a “Photo Shoot”. My prized “Snappy Tower” is hanging from my arm.