Sean Carroll Photographs & Projects
0
CARROLL_PERSONAL001-S1-0035.jpg

Yard Sale

In the mid 1970s, my family came into possession of an old Leica M3 Rangefinder camera, that most iconic of mid-century 35mm cameras, a sharp, quiet, and sturdy machine from the days of film.  The provenance of this particular camera is cloudy. Serial number dated to 1961, it was purchased at a Yard Sale outside of Boston sometime before I was born. Remembering years later how little was paid for it, my mother is convinced that the camera was ‘hot’.

As the story goes, the camera was too unwieldy for normal use so was not in regular rotation through my childhood.  Eventually, it broke and was shoved away in a closet, a relic as we moved from the analog to digital age.  I found the thing in the closet some years ago, quiet and unused.

Recognizing my interest in photography, my father spearheaded an effort to bring the Leica back to functionality. His hope was that the camera could be an object that would be important to me for many years.  Fully refurbished the camera was given to me as a gift in 2006, with one condition: take pictures!

YARD SALE :: 2012-2016

In the mid 1970s, my family came into possession of an old Leica M3 Rangefinder camera, that most iconic of mid-century 35mm cameras, a sharp, quiet, and sturdy machine from the days of film.  The provenance of this particular camera is cloudy. Serial number dated to 1961, it was purchased at a Yard Sale outside of Boston sometime before I was born. Remembering years later how little was paid for it, my mother is convinced that the camera was ‘hot’.

As the story goes, the camera was too unwieldy for normal use so was not in regular rotation through my childhood.  Eventually, it broke and was shoved away in a closet, a relic as we moved from the analog to digital age.  I found the thing in the closet some years ago, quiet and unused.

Recognizing my interest in photography, my father spearheaded an effort to bring the Leica back to functionality. His hope was that the camera could be an object that would be important to me for many years.  Fully refurbished the camera was given to me as a gift in 2006, with one condition: take pictures!