Faux Projector
Bozeman, Montana
2022
Funny how your life experiences influence how your mind interprets what your eyes see. This roll of reflective tape on a couple of boxes has been sitting on our counter for several days and every single time I come into the room and first see it, my mind seems to think it’s a Kodak Carousel slide projector. I’m tempted to let it sit there to see how long that reaction continues, but quite frankly it bugs me so I think I’ll forgo that experiment.
I see it! I actually still have one of these projectors – and all the family slides from 60+ years ago!
I’ve taken a lot of slide photos over the years as did my father. Yet neither him or I ever bought a carousel projector. Dad used a solidly built but rather plain one-at-a-time projector. I just used a cheap light table for mine and then had prints made of some of them. But last winter (or maybe it was the winter before) I decided to sort and cull all my slides and digitize the cull survivors. I still have the old light table, but my eyes don’t appreciate it anymore even though it’s still in good shape. So I found a good, used carousel projector and bought it, along with a good scanner. I’m mostly done with that project now so I imagine both of those two pieces of equipment will just be collecting dust in my closet from now on.
I have begun the culling/scanning process but have a long way to go…
As you’ve probably discovered already, it can be a fun but also tedious process. Here’s hoping you have more of the former, less of the latter!
I have also been changing the slides over for, seemingly, years and it is a very tedious process. Still have my old projector but haven’t used it in many years. I don’t even know if they carry replacement bulbs.
The chances of finding a new replacement bulb are slim to none I’d think. But perhaps there’s a used one floating around out there somewhere.