"My first memory of the Brownie Hawkeye dates back to the late
1970s when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It was a trip to the beach
one warm summer California day with my grandparents. My grandfather
brought along this little black box camera. I remember him loading the
620 film into it and showing me how to do it. When examining it, I
thought it was so quirky to look through the top view finder rather
than from a traditional camera's view finder. Later that day he asked
my grandmother to take a photo of him and me with the ocean in the
background. I vividly remember that special moment. The photo came
out magnificently! Ever since then I've kept that photo which is now
on my refrigerator door, but have had to rely on memories of my grandpa
George after his passing.
Now that I'm an emerging freelance photographer, I use the most
modern digital equipment for the bulk of my work, but I could never
figure out what kind of box camera my grandmother used that day on the
beach. That all changed one day last year in 2003 when I recognized
one of those cameras at a camera shop. I took a good look at it and
wrote down what kind of camera it was. It was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye.
I went home and searched eBay and immediately purchased two that were
still in the original box. Ever since then I've been carrying a
Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model camera around with me almost every other
day and using up as many as one to three rolls of re-spooled 120 film a
week.
I've found that the photos that this camera takes gives a soft
and dreamy look that carries a special edge to them. I've even had clients
and friends come forward and ask me to take photos for them with this
camera. It's so amazing what images can come from a simple box camera
with a simple lens. I hope that you enjoy them!"
-Rocky Arroyo
