Ten Frames: Yashica Mat Portraits

Medium FormatCandid & Street Photography

1 Sept

For many years I shot with one of the original Yashica Mats, built sometime in the late '50s. The photos it produced were as good as the day it was made, but it had a dodgy shutter button. You had to press it in a certain way, otherwise the wind-on mechanism would jam. I knew it'd eventually give up the ghost, so I was always on the lookout for something in better condition.

Then in 2014 I pretty much won the camera lottery. The Real Camera Shop in Liverpool had a mint Yashica Mat 124G—and I mean MINT. It was still in the box. Everything was there, including the manual, and even the camera strap was still rolled up in its cellophane. There was nothing to suggest it had ever had a single roll of film run through it. A woman had brought it in, explaining it had belonged to her late father. That's all I could find out.

Two hundred pounds seemed like a lot of money to me then (it still does today), and I remember having to think about it for at least two minutes! Today, I wouldn't need that long. If there is still one out there in such good condition, I dread to think what you'd pay.

Here are ten of my favourite pictures of people (and one dog) that I’ve taken with this camera over the past decade.

→ All photos: Yashica Mat 124G / Kodak Tri-X / Semi-stand developed in Rodinal 1+99 60 minutes.