I met Rudy at a Starbucks in West Portal. It didn’t register at first that he was the guy I had been communicating with all week over email, but after about 2 minutes of debating whether I should approach him, I did.
It was him.
The camera was hidden in a plastic bag on the table, which is why I didn’t recognize him immediately.Rudy was kind of what I expected from our communication (I guessed older, only because he didn”t answer his email every 10 seconds). He had white hair, about 50s or 60s, really blue blue eyes, and was decked out head-t0-toe in SF 49ers gear. We shook hands, and his hands reminded me of my dad’s. And I knew this was going to work out.
When I sat down, he offered to buy me a cup of coffee (I declined). We talked a little bit about cameras. He told me he acquired this from his friend who cleans out storage spaces and knew he was into cameras, but as he”s into SLR”s, he didn”t really need a super 8. He pulled the camera out of the bag, and it was absolutely pristine. All the manufacturers stickers were still on the body. I placed in a roll of expired 1987 kodachrome and held my breath. It worked.Everything fell into place–light meter: check. Testing of the different speeds/frame rates: check. Film meter: check. Everything seemed to work.
I know it”s silly to be attached to an inanimate object, but in a weird way–the way I found the posting on craigslist, the fact that Rudy sorta reminded me of Dad (and the fact that the name, “Rudy” itself reminds me of the movie, and the school where my dad went), the fact that it just all fell into place–it just kinda felt like me and that camera were meant to be.Finally, I feel like it”s all coming together. I hope to be able to obtain some film before this weekend”s trip to Big Basin so I can finally get the show on the road.By the way, we named the camera Rudy.
