Today many of us have a fancy camera built into the phones in our pockets. These digital cameras do a lot of the creative work automatically for us. Which has led to a resurgence in interest in the opposite: vintage camera lens with a diverse range of glasses, that can be manipulated manually.
A Pōneke Wellington-based artist, collector and restorer Benni Krueger has over 1000 vintage lens. Fair to say: he's obsessed with radically restoring old lens for use in the digital age. Requests come in to Krueger from around the world to restore lens that can range in current value from, unrestored, a few op shop dollars, to the price of a house.
Two years ago Krueger launched The Vintage Lens Club. And what was meant to be a small regional group in Aotearoa New Zealand has grown online to having nearly 40,000 members in more than 20 countries.
This has seen a new group for locals established, the Wellington Lens Club. They meet up regularly to roam the streets of the Capital, taking images and sharing their creative results.
The WLC are staging the exhibition Our City at Cuba Street's Thistle Hall over the first week of April. All of the photos in the show were captured within a few blocks of the venue in Te Aro.
These photographers use all manner of cameras and lenses, with the use of older and experimental glass encouraged. There are even images shot with lenses originally designed for vintage cinema projectors, x-ray machines, aerial reconnaissance and military tanks.
