Me with My First Camera by Richard Calmes

Richard Calmes | all galleries >> Galleries >> VIETNAM WAR 1968-1969 > Me with My First Camera

Me with My First Camera

I still have this Camera. A Canon FT-QL and I still shoot with Canon. I wonder if an ash from that cigarette fell into the camera? I quit smoking when I got back to the states.

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jtocaciu		31-Dec-2025 06:08
Superb portrait. So valuable after years. VVVVV.

Guest		20-Sep-2019 17:13
I still have my FT-QL, too. I got the one with the 55mm 1.2 lens. Been thinking about getting the battery fix and shooting some film again but I sure like my Canon 5D mkIII. I also quit smoking when I dros'ed back in 1970

William Bentley		24-Feb-2010 04:33
These pics.bring back a lot of memories,some good some bad.I was an arty. gunner f.b. washington 1969.

Guest		02-Oct-2008 14:12
Did you really quit smoking?

tori keech		24-Sep-2008 15:45
wow you smoked i did not know that

Guest		15-Mar-2008 17:02
Really nice !

Guy Dube		12-Dec-2007 03:24
Nice shot Richard, those pictures are very impressive! And you quit smoking when you were back in US. Good idea!

Guest		29-Aug-2007 21:44
Hi Guys, have just come upon a collection of Viet War photo's by a guy called Richard West who was out there with BBC. Can any of you shed more light upon him? John Scott contact me at jascott1969@yahoo.co.uk if you have any info. Would be most grateful.

Shawn Patrick		04-Jun-2007 01:53
I'm a Canon guy too so I am glad to see you have stuck with them all these years. Who took this shot of you? Are you still in contact with them?

Pawel Kazmierczyk		02-Jun-2007 21:05
nice personal touch. :)

Mike Ray		19-Jan-2007 19:29
Looks very familiar - exactly like the Canon FT-QL I bought while on R&R in Singapore in 1968. Used it for a long time until cameras became more automated.

Monte Dodge		19-Jan-2007 17:40
Great photo. You spend your money in the " Right Place". Most GI's would have gave their money to a " Vice Far Worse Than A New Canon"

Kees Terberg		15-Jan-2007 23:01
Hehehe, a classic camera. Do you still use it or has it become an icon? Disregarding the battle between digital and conventional, everynow an again it is great to put a roll of film through a camera. It slows you down and makes you think again... rather than it becoming second nature which I have found with digital. ;¬)

Guest		15-Jan-2007 18:55
Good that you quit smoking!!!

Dale		15-Jan-2007 17:53
This brings back memories... My first Canon was the FT-QL also...still have it packed away somewhere. I bought it off a SSGT at Keesler AFB MS in 1967, who got it in SVN during a tour there. He had been awarded a silver star for dragging a LTC to safety who had been wounded on a sapper attack on their air base. I forget now why he sold the camera. I bought me a Canon F-1 when I was sent to Thailand in 1971. Used it for more than 30 years until I got a Nikon Digital in 2002. It still takes great pics though.

carol j. phipps		15-Jan-2007 02:22
Serious stuff.

Steve Highfield		25-Nov-2006 17:33
Hi Richard, This particular photo of you really brings a smile to my face because it's just the sort of thing I would do - cig hanging almost over the open camera!! You and your camera must have seen plenty of muck and bullets in those days, so a bit of fag ash won't do any harm :-) Fascinating shot of your younger days.

CIS		02-Oct-2006 22:23
This gallery was 'so impactual as all your work is'...but bringing us back in time through these images really touched me.

Dale John Larsen		06-Aug-2006 14:41
Lucky you didn't drop any ashes inside that camera body. I'll bet you'd never do that with the expensive digital cameras you use today. I really enjoyed looking at all your photos...lots of voting. What a treat to be able to share all those visual memories.

Guest		05-Jun-2006 03:13
Looks like you had trouble with that cam. LOL.

Mooner of Cu Chi...		16-Apr-2006 23:16
How can we forget? '71-'72 were'nt no picnic either. All the things we saw and did will never go away peacefully... I'll carry those scars to my grave.

lorin niculae		29-Jan-2006 14:59
splendid photo!

Guest		25-Nov-2005 01:05
Glad you quit smoking!!!!

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