The picture on the right, of Preacher Creek, was made with the camera shown above, in the early 1990s. It is a Kodak Pocket 1A. I'm not sure when it was made, but the instruction book with it has a copyright date of 1926. These cameras used Kodak 116 film, discontinued long ago. I made this picture of the creek, and the next three shown below on 120 film. I modified a spool for a take-up spool, and used spacers for the film spool to keep it centered. It worked ok. The only problem I encountered was a tiny light leak or two, that showed up on some frames. I never found the leak. I thought it was in the bellows, and I covered the folds with black tape, but the leak was still there, as I found out from the next roll.

I wanted to use a medium format camera for a change--one that had a bigger frame size than 35mm. Buying one was not an option then. I had this old Kodak and thought I'd try it with 120 film. It worked out pretty well. The light leak was a bit disappointing, but it was an interesting experience. This camera does make good pictures, not counting the flare on some frames. It has a pretty sharp lens. The film exposures look fairly sharp, but the scans didn't come out as sharp and I had to use the sharpening feature of the editing program to get them to look right, as close as I could.

I used a light meter and an exposure chart to set the camera, and had it mounted on a tripod. I did have a photo, by another camera, of this Kodak on the tripod, standing in a calm part of the creek, but I can't find it. If I do, I'll post it here.

Preacher Creek is in Livingston County. I think it is between Burna and Salem. It's been a long time since I was in that area. I made a few walks upstream along the creek back in the 1980s and early 90s, and walked quite a ways back in there. Westvaco owns a lot of property in that region and this creek goes through some of it. There was a place near an old cemetery where I parked and walked from there, over to Claylick Creek, then went up Preacher Creek. This photo, right above, made with the old Kodak, shows part of the creek way back in there. The photo above this one was made not far from this location.

This next photo, right above this text, also made with the old Kodak, was made in the same vicinity as the previous one. This place is as far as I walked. I used to walk way back in there and get that remote feeling, like I was really out in a wilderness. There is a big forest there, or was years ago. One day I started on a walk out there and had gone maybe half way when I heard a motor. Somebody was back there on an ATV. That pretty well ruined the mood. I don't know if it was that time, but probably was, that I went up hill from this place shown here and found a new gravel road. I guess Westvaco had put it there. After that, it was easy to drive around to this area and park on the high ground and walk down. I did that once. It was easy to get to that place via the new road, but it wasn't the same anymore.

Same place, different view. The creek split into two channels, at least when there was plenty of flow. This photo was also made with the Kodak Pocket camera. The frame configuration is like a panorama. I think it is 4 1/4 in. long. This one came out with no flares. Some did. I shot only a few rolls with that camera. Film and developing were a bit costly, and the light leak was a bit of a problem, so I didn't do much with it. It was something different. I normally used an SLR. I did take an old Kodak box camera out there once, with 120 b&w film. That kind of camera needs good light. I didn't get much with it at the creek.

Some more views of Preacher Creek, made with a 35mm SLR.

Not far along Preacher Creek I found all these Bluebells one day. Many of them! It was pretty neat.

This was maybe halfway back to where I made the previous pictures, not sure. This is probably the longest straight stretch. It was quite a walk back there, to the farthest place I went.

I can't say just where this part is, but I'm pretty sure it is past where the previous photo was made.

This part is a little further, not far from where I made the photos with the old Kodak Pocket camera.

I used to really like that creek. I could walk back there and feel remote, and put problems aside for a while. It isn't really far from roads and people, but it sure seemed like it at the time. Walking a while to get back in there where the creek really became interesting, and getting farther from the road I parked by, made it seem like a wilderness. It is a very neat place, or was back in the early 90s. I put 1980s on these pictures, but that is partly incorrect. It was in the early 90s that I used the old Kodak Pocket camera.

This last photo shows part of Claylick Creek, not far from where the two join. I think one runs into the other; not sure which way. This was made in the spring one year, in the 80s. Spring/early summer was the best time to go, because of plenty of rain that made the creeks run good.

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