My passion for photography began with a Kodak Instamatic, a gift from my godmother, which I eagerly used to capture the world around me at age 8. This early fascination led me to join our school photography club in the 1970s, initiated by our inspiring teacher, Rolf Bruns. Known for his chain-smoking habit, Bruns was a dedicated math, physics, and geography teacher who also ran the club, giving us the rare opportunity to explore the magic of analog photography.

Our school had a complete darkroom, including black-and-white development stations and professional cameras like a high-quality Hasselblad medium-format camera and a 35mm Leica. We started by creating photograms and learning the basics of exposure and composition. Under Bruns' guidance, we honed our skills, progressing to shooting and developing our films. I used my father’s old Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 521/2 for the club with 6x9 roll film, which introduced me to more advanced photography techniques.

As my skills developed, I upgraded my equipment, first to a Voigtländer Vito 35mm, then a Zenith, and eventually a Pentax MZ. I also set up my photo lab with a Rodenstock lens, which allowed me to develop and print my photos independently. Later on, moved to film and digital using Sony Handycam and point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix.

But now, I'm back to my roots and focusing on photography with my Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 521/2, viewfinder 537/2, yellow filter Carl Zeiss and cable remote trigger.

The latest addition to have a 35mm is a Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa with a still full working light meter sensor. Shutter speed below 1/15 is not working, rest is flawless.

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