Brillantaisia ulugurica
Instamatic
Brillantaisia ulugurica was discovered in the early 1800′s in the Uluguru mountains of Tanzania by the Frenchman, Palisot de Beauvois. It was he who introduced Brillantaisia to the flower gardens of the world.
I took the first two photos inside the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver last August. The Bloedel Conservatory, a giant geodesic dome, was opened in 1969 and outside stand two bronze sculptures. The first is the enormous “Knife Edge” by Henry Moore, a masterpiece of abstract art. The second is a life size sculpture of some contemporary ‘dude’ holding a Kodak Instamatic camera.
The Instamatic camera went on sale in 1963 for 16 dollars and fifty million were sold before it went out of production in 1970. This simple ‘point and shoot’ camera used easy-to-load film cartridges and it changed the world of photography. I should know, I got one as a Christmas present when I was a kid. It was my first camera.
