Alyssa Milano's Nikon FA

For any male camera nerd, the best thing that usually can ever happen is when some celebrity hottie is seen using a camera which isn't a typical point & shoot. This aspect of photography nerdism has been somewhat active lately. The images which have surfaced featuring Scarlett Johansson and Audrey Tautou holding Leica rangefinder cameras surely have the made the film advance in many old photographer's cameras; so to say.

I imagine neither Johansson or Tautou have a serious working attachment with the cameras in the same way that Kenny Rogers does. The Scarlett Johansson image comes from the set of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Audrey Tautou's comes from an advertisement for Chanel N°5. It seems pretty obvious that the cameras' roles are little more then a props for the story each one is in.

This got me wondering about the image I recently unearthed from a 1988 issue of teen magazine The Big Bopper. In it is a photo of the then sixteen year old Alyssa Milano with a Nikon FA slung over her shoulder and on display like the latest fashionable purse. There is no mention of photography or the arts in the entire column.

So my point of wonder is this: Why is Alyssa Milano wearing the Nikon FA?

The image was used in a teen heartthrob magazine marketed to teenage girls in a two page feature called "Ask Alyssa". The article is a Dear Abby style column where the teenage girls reading the magazine send in their insecurities and hope to get some approval from Alyssa. Such subjects from "I'm 11, and my mom won't let me shave my legs so I can wear skirts." to "I need advice on health. My mother says I am as skinny as a flute, but on the other hand, my doctor says I'm just fine. I weight 101 lbs. And am 5'2" tall. What do you think?"

So why is Alyssa wearing a Nikon SLR in a column about fashion, beauty and health?

Was photography something that a teenage girl in the late eighties seen as being fashionable?

Was Alyssa actually into photography and wanted to subtly influence the girls who read her advice column?

Was the photographer a total gear head, and made an awkward prop choice thinking that his Nikon FA would make Alyssa appear hip to the max?

Update!

After a little digging deeper it appears she may actually be a photography buff.

"Alyssa Milano is accustomed to being in front of the camera, going back to her days as a child star on the hit TV show Who's The Boss? and continuing with her current role as a witch on the WB series Charmed. But, as it happens, Milano likes being on the other side of the lens, too. She's been snapping pictures since she was a kid."

From Celebrity Artist by Ken Hall.

"Outside of acting, her hobbies include photography, humanitarian work..."

From her wikipedia entry.