Brownie Target Six-20

Greetings! I know I'm late today... I'm visiting my family in Edmonton so I've been kind of preoccupied. That being said, this house is a treasure trove of photographic history, so I have lots of fun stuff to share with you all.

This week's camera, the Brownie Target Six-20, was the go-to camera for my grandmother when my dad was a wee one growing up in Millet, Alberta. It was produced from 1946 to 1952 and uses 620 film, which is a format similar to 120.

As you can see, it is a box camera! The Six-20 is very much like the early Brownie box cameras that brought photography to the masses, but with some slight improvements such as a variable aperture (f11 and f16.... I think) and two viewfinders (landscape vs. portrait). It has two shutter speed settings, "I" and "B," "I" being the "instant" setting (around 1/40 sec). This model was manufactured in Canada.

Alright, it's a nice show piece and a neat little piece of history, but once you've seen one box camera, you've seen them all, maybe. However, this particular dusty shutter is more valuable than a website or a collector could evaluate. It cost my grandma probably around five Canadian dollars, but it's left us grandkids with a basement full of treasure.

My grandpa died when my dad was very young, so this box camera saw more of him than my dad did, and I didn't see him at all. But I can still see what kind of man he was, and see my dad in him. Although I've never met him I know he was handsome, he worked the land, and at some point he was naked except for a big rhubarb-looking leaf.

My dad grew up on the farm too, and I've often felt alienated from him by our vast difference in upbringing. When my mom met him, he already had a full-on beard, so there were never any pictures of him without. Now, I know the Brownie saw him grow up, and because of that I can see him in a little wagon with a big, familiar smile. Because the Brownie saw him, I can see that he looked just like my big brother.

And because the camera knew my grandma before age began to eat her history and her memories, I can still be her friend. While she doesn't know who I am, I see some of my sister and myself in her, and I love her just for being.

Caity