Top: December 2011 // Nikon D70s, Nikkor 50 f/1.4
Above: July 2023 // Nikon D700, Nikkor 50 f/1.4
Above: July 2023 // Nikon D700, Nikkor 50 f/1.4
Owning a typewriter once was a student necessity. My generation was among the last to find one under a Christmas tree or receive one as a graduation gift. We also were required to formally take a typing class in high school on manual machines, a mandate I'm grateful for today as my hands—not single fingers—rest on the home keys and instinctively know how to generate five dozen words per minute. My younger self never would believe the adult me would own, let alone collect, typewriters. I parked a Brother electric in favor of a Mac SE 20 in 1987 and didn't look back—until 2011. Rediscovering typewriters became an analog antidote to digital fatigue. Each week, my hands glide across a rotation of several dozen machines representing decades of industrious typewriter design. My mind craves time spent with them. The pandemic added a new dimension when I carried a portable typewriter outside for the first time. Gradually, I built a reliable typewriter campsite with folding table, camp stool, Bluetooth speaker and lantern. Summer nights with my thoughts have never been more fun.
