My 10th birthday, the present was a camera

I found a camera among the articles of my deceased father recently. The camera, called "Olympus Trip 35" was my first camera. I remember I coaxed grandpa for buying a camera as my 10th birthday present. I was taken to a photo shop nearby. And I chose the expensive present, I think it cost more than a hundred dollars, with diffidence.
I wonder why I was interested in photo. I tried to remember but I can't. So what's the objects I took with this camera? Then I got remember. It's a "Super car". Well, it's exactly dates overlap to "Super Sports Car Boom" among kids in Japan in mid 70s.
Now I remember even better. I snapped sports cars which were passing by the street nearby. I also visited used car shop and even negotiate with the shop owners for photographing the interior. I also went to Tokyo Motor Show and took a picture of the promotional model rounding on the turn table with the dazzlingly beautiful car. In short, I was a little shutterbug at age ten.
There is more story on my Trip 35. I brought it to school trip to Kyoto and Nara, for example. Took a picture of old temple and group photo of class mates. The composition was quite stable. The pictures was like a postcard. However it looked like the old person's.

Here I'll put some tips for the Olympus Trip 35. I've misunderstood for long time the number "35" means focal length. But it means "Camera for 35mm film". The actual focal length of the fixed lens on this camera is 40mm f2.8. Not so wide angled. Well, I remember I felt slightly narrow for short distance object.
The camera doesn't use a battery but mechanical camera. It has built in light meter and primitive auto exposure system. The best combination of shutter speed (2 step,1/40s and 1/200s) and apertures (7 step, f2.8to f22, apertures) is chosen automatically. Of course I didn't know such a technical things at the time.
Oh, I remember, this camera indicate a red flag like a ice candy bar sticking into the finder when there isn't enough light for photographing and cannot push the shutter button even in the decisive moment. It became a trauma to me. So even now I still have anxiety that the red flag comes out when I push the shutter button with any camera. I named it "Trip 35's Red Flag Syndrome"
Meanwhile the styling is so classic and beautiful. The glass ornament around the lens is like a jewel, or art deco although I still don't now the function.
I heard the Trip 35 was the long-seller which had produced for 17 years, from 1967 to 1984, and sold all over the world.

In mid 80s, I became a high school student and got a Single Lens Reflex camera in the SLR boom. I wanted to be more serious for photography. I wanted decide the shutter speed and aperture manually. I wanted to change the lens depends on the situation. I thrown away my Trip 35 which had been my friend for seven years. My father found the camera left on and has kept it for long long years, I guess.

If you expected good story about how I got into photo world, like meeting a master piece or great photographer made me commit the camera, I'm really sorry. I was not such a sophisticate kid. I just followed the trends without thought.
But once I held a camera I tried to capture the all things which I was attracted. And my curiosity has no limit. Everything was fresh to me. My curiosity is double imaged on the brilliant glass decoration around the lens. Oh, it's a little bit exaggerated.

As finding the camera, accidentally I knew this year is the 40th anniversary of my photo life. I've spent most of the life with camera and dedicated for photography. That's a point I really proud of.
In the next issue, I'll talk about another impressive camera to me.