The Camera Museum

This past weekend my sister and I went on a sister’s weekend getaway to Staunton, VA. I have always been the planner, so it was sweet to see her make the plan and gift the whole thing to me at Christmas. I must admit when I read where we were going, I was…not sure. I mean is Staunton, VA on your bucket list? But, I also love visiting small towns everywhere and exploring what makes them special. Apparently she asked ChatGPT to give her 10 options for getaway weekends within four hours of where we live, and Staunton made the cut, with the likes of tried and true places like Harper’s Ferry. So, we decided to give it a try. And, of course, we were not disappointed.

It turns out that Staunton is quite adorable and we had the best time riding a scenic brunch train, blowing our own glass at a cute factory, watching performers at a fabulous little Shakespeare theater, antiquing, and dining at wonderful spots including a wine shop with delectable homemade food. One of my favorite experiences was the local Camera Heritage Museum. What first seemed like an overstuffed old camera shop, turned into two hours of fascinating information about over 7,000 cameras and photographs. The only ones there, we paid our $8 and the proprietor excitedly gave us each headphones tethered to one listening device (which made the experience quite comical as we tangled up every time we each turned to explore something that caught our interest). The curator, Dave, punctuated our listening with extra fun facts of his own. He was eager to quiz us on things we had no idea about and thrilled when we got something correct once in a while. I felt like we were mutually making each other’s day!

I’ve always loved photography and I love digging through old photos. There is magic to be found in the expressions on the faces, the backgrounds in the photos, and the history from when they were taken. What at first had seemed like a pile of gray as far as the eye could see was actually the camera Leni Riefenstahl used to shoot her propaganda films, multiple cameras appearing in James Bond films, underwater cameras used by Jacque Cousteau, and the actual cameras that shot pulitzer prize winning photos I recognized. I was excited to see versions of cameras I had as a child and show them to my sister, while she laughed at me (since I am 15 years older). I’m a sucker for nostalgia. Photos fire up the same parts of my brain as books. It’s all about a good story. And man, this place had thousands of those!