Interviewer:Gemma Abbott

Cusp project

Nov. 19, 2010

G:Hi this is Gemma Abbott and I am interviewing Kara Robinson. Could I ask for you to spell that for me please?

K: Yes. It is K-A-R-A R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N

G: and this is for the CUSP project. Um What object have you brought today that inspires you?

K: I have here my uh Pentax HoneyWell Pentax SP 1000 camera. It was my dad’s and um he got it in the late seventies. And umm it’s a pretty, pretty awesome camera.

G: So at what age did your father give this to you?

K:Accually he just gave it to me a few months ago and he he’s sixty nine years old, I’m twenty-four. So he got it when he was in his ahh early thirties I believe. So yeah it was a long time ago.

G: Umm so you have only had this object for a little while? What inspires you about it?

K:I, I would say that I have always been interested in photography. And umm I know nothing about it. It’s just one of those umm mysterious things I have wanted to learn so much about, in fact it came with this thick book that I have here too. That has these insanely detailed instructions on it. Normally with cameras nowdays you don’t, it doesn’t come with that. It comes with a thin little instruction booklet and that’s all you get. Umm It inspires me because I umm with all the, going through school and at my age, I want to do new things, and I feel like I haven’t done enough new things. And so I would like to really get umm a photography hobby going. And maybe one of these days possibly turn it into a business. So yeah.

G: umm Have you done any photography yet with the camera?

K: I have taken a lot of pictures especially in downtown St. Louis since I work downtown. I have gotten on top of one parking complexes and umm taken pictures of the Arch. And snuck up on pigeons umm it’s really creepy. And I have yet to get the film developed I’m trying to get a bunch together before I take it to get it developed. So umm but I have seen what this camera can do and I’m excited about it. It has this uh this manual focus and you know not a lot of the digital cameras you get today have it. It’s a really heavy umm well made and cool looking camera. And I hope to accually umm continue to take a bunch of pictures. And hopefully you know keep going with it. It’s all that perseverance for me with something like this.

G: umm, Say in five years how do you think the camera will inspire you in different ways?

K: Well, umm considering I have the mass communications degree, corporate institutional media I would like to incorporate uh the use of a camera into that. I know that there have been so many newer technologies with social media and and umm building a company brand and I think that getting down to the basics with something that people don’t really even intend to use anymore as far as buildings someone’s brand. I think that it could be umm it could inspire me to really build a fun and unique business. Maybe not unique in such a way, just something fun and creative. And just getting back to the basics of really fun photography.

G: eventually when you get older,like when you want to stop using the camera do you think you’ll give it to your children, or a protégé?

K: I would like to. I mean if I do have kids you know I think that this would be, I would hope that this would be something they would cherish as much as I do since my dad gave it to me. Yeah this is one of his prize possessions and he his handing it over to me meant a lot too. It was inspiring that he had enough faith in me to take care of it and you know. Umm cause yeah it’s a hefty camera, but it’s also delicate in the sense that it’s old. And umm and still as old as it is it still looks pretty okay. It’s still in pretty good shape. And yeah I would like to pass it on to you know my hypothetical kids one of these days.

G: Is there anything else you would like to tell me about the inspirational aspect of your object? Or

K: I really like uhh the way things uhh seem to be going for photography lately. And I think that umm you know, and I hope that people will take from, let me start over on that one, I hope that umm people can recognize the significance umm of the history of the camera. And umm you know where its come from and where its going. And ahh hopefully someone can appreciate something this old and this valuable to me and can also see value in it as well.

G: Well thank you

K: You’re welcome