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Away from the camera

Godfrey

Well-known member
Not entirely, but I took the weekend to make a short trip to Albuquerque, NM, and visit my uncle. Had a great time.

He's an old camera buff but he's gotten rid of most of his older camera gear. He gave me a few bags full miscellaneous bits that he no longer wants to hold onto ... a couple of Nikon SLRs and zooms, a really pretty Polaroid SX-70... but the prize of the gift was the leather camera box that my father's M3 used to be stored in. The M3 is long gone, the box is mostly full of junk, but at the bottom of the box was a scrap of paper, a few notes written by my father in the 1950s about settings for doing portraits ...

That's a priceless thing. My father passed away on New Year's Day 1971.

I made a couple of photos of my uncle with the GXR and Skopar 28. Nothing special, but as the last surviving relative of the larger family from my father's side that I have any contact with, they're important to me.


Uncle Matt and the Old Chemist
My uncle was a pharmacist, this photo is special to him.



The two of us together.
He's gotten smaller in his old age, but I have been taller than him since
I was eleven years old.

Time and memories, a perfect fit for photographers. I did make a few more photos at the airports along the way. I'll post anything I find that looks interesting. There was one shot out the window at Stapleton that I have hopes for.

I found I have two packs of film for the SX-70 still kicking around ... :)
 

Lars

Active member
Hmm crossposted to wrong thread, how did that happen?

Anyways, great little story. Cameras help us remember, in many ways. I have my dad's old Kodak Retina rangefinder, and the Kodachromes he shot with it in India early 50's. Dad always lights up when we talk about those images.
 
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Godfrey

Well-known member
Hmm crossposted to wrong thread, how did that happen?

Anyways, great little story. Cameras help us remember, in many ways. I have my dad's old Kodak Retina rangefinder, and the Kodachromes he shot with it in India early 50's. Dad always lights up when we talk about those images.
Thanks. Yes, the cameras, the photography, all are such an intrinsic part of my life, and my relationship with my father, my uncles, my grandfather, that they become more than just what they are. Opening this old leather box, there's a quiet smell there that reminds me of my childhood so vividly it goes beyond camera equipment, it is Time itself come back to life.

I'm sure the same thing in a different way happens for you and your father.
 
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