CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- With the arrival of digital photography, film cameras are gradually disappearing from our life, but some people still keep the memory and feeling carried by film cameras. Chen Yajun, 54, learned camera maintenance in his youth and has stood steadfast for 37 years with the exquisite skills and spirits of analog camera craftsman. Over his career, he has maintained about 80,000 cameras. Like most people of the elder generation, he insists on the concept of “love your job, dedicate to your job”. What he worries about most is how to pass on his skills.

There is a shop repairing vintage cameras in Daxuecheng, Chongqing and there are cameras and accessory parts on the shelves of three walls. The master is Chen Yajun, who has repaired film cameras for 37 years. In 1980, Chen began learning his craft by apprenticing at Shalong Photographic Apparatus & Processing Company, the largest in Southwest China. He then entered into work in the Maintenance Department. Now, he is the only one of those apprentices who still insists on maintaining film cameras.

Why can he insist on it for such a long time? Chen said that there was no PS [Adobe Photoshop image editing software] before and people would be happy of taking photos and collecting them for a long time. So, since he was an apprentice, in addition to learning skills from master craftsman, he has read lots of books on theory and maintenance of camera technology.