Coming to grips with people getting older

[mark]

I shoot large format because of my father. Holding the 4x5 transparencies along side the 35mm ones was a revelation at a young age. I was enlisted in lugging my father's tripod while he hauled his box with the orbit. That was one heavy tripod for a 10 year old. He sold the Orbit when I was in high school, to fund a lighter camera system after his first knee replacement and did not get another 4x5 until I got into it. Then he had his first and second heart attacks then the stroke. Some where in there was another knee replacement, rotator cuff surgery and now an operation on his thumb. A couple of weeks ago he called me and asked if I wanted his large format stuff. I offered to buy it and he said no, then I offered to sell it for him so he could at least get another lens for his Nikon digital thingy. I admit that I got teary eyed when he said he wanted someone in the family to use it. Someone who would respect what it could accomplish.

This weekend he showed me everything that was in the case and I was happy to see that he had sold two of his lenses to cover at least part of a new lens for the digital thingy. I asked several times if he was sure and offered to carry his tripod again, hell carry the whole system. Set it up, and let him do the rest.

I am now the owner of a Cambo S2 one lens a couple of accessories a tripod and a heavy heart.

Just getting something off my chest.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

I shoot large format because of my father. Holding the 4x5 transparencies along side the 35mm ones was a revelation at a young age. I was enlisted in lugging my father's tripod while he hauled his box with the orbit. That was one heavy tripod for a 10 year old. He sold the Orbit when I was in high school, to fund a lighter camera system after his first knee replacement and did not get another 4x5 until I got into it. Then he had his first and second heart attacks then the stroke. Some where in there was another knee replacement, rotator cuff surgery and now an operation on his thumb. A couple of weeks ago he called me and asked if I wanted his large format stuff. I offered to buy it and he said no, then I offered to sell it for him so he could at least get another lens for his Nikon digital thingy. I admit that I got teary eyed when he said he wanted someone in the family to use it. Someone who would respect what it could accomplish.

This weekend he showed me everything that was in the case and I was happy to see that he had sold two of his lenses to cover at least part of a new lens for the digital thingy. I asked several times if he was sure and offered to carry his tripod again, hell carry the whole system. Set it up, and let him do the rest.

I am now the owner of a Cambo S2 one lens a couple of accessories a tripod and a heavy heart.

Just getting something off my chest.

Trust me, the day will come that when you use that camera your heart will fly. It's the way of things, if you're lucky.

s-a

 

[guitstik]

Use it to make you father proud. I know that I would be exhilarated if one of my children took up my camera equipment and carried on where I left off.

 

[M.A.Longmore]

I admit that I got teary eyed when he said he wanted someone in the family to use it. Someone who would respect what it could accomplish.

I am now the owner of a Cambo S2 one lens a couple of accessories a tripod and a heavy heart.

Just getting something off my chest.

.
I have to admit, that I got teary eyed reading this.
Makes me wish that I had spent more time with my son, and teaching him how to use the cameras.
Instead of working more, so that I could make more money, so that I could buy more tools, to work more,
to make more money, to buy more tools, so that I could work more, to make more money ... WTF ???

One morning before leaving for work, I opened his bedroom door to take a look at the kid,
He was almost the same length as the bed ... Now he is gone.

Now I'm living in a house full of emptiness, except for the cameras.
Now I buy more cameras to fill the emptiness.

Thanks for reminding me to share my enthusiasm for what I love, with the people I love !
Maybe I'll start with a slideshow !

Just Getting Something Off My Chest

Ron
.

 

[guitstik]

My oldest two have no desire to share in the joy I find in photography. But I take solice in knowing that my 10 year old son finds it fascinating to the point that just today he was pointing out photo opps for us. He jumped at the suggestion that he and I go out and shoot this week.

 

[johnnywalker]

If it's too late for the kids, try the grandkids (as soon as their old enough to carry a tripod).

 

[Ralph Javins]

.
I have to admit, that I got teary eyed reading this.

. . .

One morning before leaving for work, I opened his bedroom door to take a look at the kid,
He was almost the same length as the bed ... Now he is gone.

Now I'm living in a house full of emptiness, except for the cameras.
Now I buy more cameras to fill the emptiness.

Thanks for reminding me to share my enthusiasm for what I love, with the people I love !
Maybe I'll start with a slideshow !

Just Getting Something Off My Chest

Ron
.

Good morning, Ron;

Do not be too hard on yourself. At least you still have the cameras. When the mother of my children decided that she no longer wanted to be a wife, she kept just about everything except me, my 1970 Ford van, and my education. She kept the 1975 Ford F-350 One Ton Pickup Truck for hauling her horses, and the house, and the kids. Somehow, my photographic equipment just seemed to "disappear" during the time when the court was deciding what they were going to do, and I had no access to the house and my possessions. Later, she and her current husband also developed some really different attitudes about me and my children. I no longer got to see them either. The child support continued unabated. It took me a while to learn that my taking complaints to the court always resulted in my losing more of the few remaining things I had left.

So, I lost not only the cameras, but also the children. I have since replaced the cameras with substitutes, but I know they are substitutes. Ron, you still have your cameras. They can be much kinder to you in how they treat you, and they do not just ignore any requests to even talk with you. Through an absolutely weird chance encounter with a friend of my youngest son, I learned that he has been married and he has three or possibly four children now.

Enjoy using your cameras for taking photographs of things you like.

 

[jp498]

What a thoughtful and well expressed thread for a bunch of men!

It's of course nicest when someone in the family shows a liking of photography, but it's not critical. Someone to share photography with and pass on skills with is good. If it's not your kids, perhaps some scouts, grandkids, volunteering somewhere, etc...

It's nice to see some gear passed on in the family and used; it's a nicer situation than having the gear end up on ebay or clist. I'm young and don't have the hindsight some in this thread have, but I feel like a part of picture as I've bought stuff from aging photographers, many widowers of photographers, etc... The widows have been happy seeing a young person take an interest in using their husbands prized gear.

 

[guitstik]

Last year I answered an add on CL for a Rodenstock folder. I ended up with a large cache of cameras non of them remarkable in their own right but for the Rodenstock. The story behind them was. The woman selling them had inherited them from her father who had been an avid amateur photographer and she had a load of pictures that he had taken of the family over the years. The Rodenstock being the only real jewel in the collection needed a complete overhaul and so I sent it to Ken Ruth for repair. Part of the deal that I made with her was that when I got the camera back I would do portraits of her and her grandchildren with the camera so that she would have one last set of pictures from her fathers favorite camera. The problem is, now I have the camera back but have since lost her number due to a cell phone malfunction. Isn't it ironic?

 

[brucemuir]

Use it to make you father proud. I know that I would be exhilarated if one of my children took up my camera equipment and carried on where I left off.

My daughter that is 12yo, today informed me how she WANTS to do the yearbook/clubs section for her schooll
And believe me, anytime she gets excited about something connected to her school not to mention an extracurricular activity is a rare day at her age

She recently second shot a wedding with me also.

(we need a proud pappy icon)

 

[guitstik]

Well done Bruce.

 

[FiatluX]

The people that used them are rare, their cameras are rare, the process is rare and we´re getting rare too, lets pass that rarity on!

Great thread, kinda sums up a lot of important things concerning my "need" for analogue photography and old cameras, its like looking at that very old photograph that makes you feel like that particular time is right there at the tip of your fingers, frozen across generations.. Timelessness and the fragile nature of that same time passing so quickly!

 

[mark]

What a thoughtful and well expressed thread for a bunch of men!

Uh..er..ummmm..yeah..uh....How bout dem Bears? Spit, Scratch, Adjust


Now I need to carve out time to use the camera.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I don't have the cameras they used, but do have a ton of slides from my now passed father and grandfather.

Two years ago at a camera show I found the model -a Zeiss Ikon Contessamat- that Grandpa shot so many of the slides on. $10 later it was mine. The hunt for the same fan fold Agfa flasholder continues. I have a largish stash of m2B and M3b flash bulbs to complete the kit.

The selenium meter appears functional and accurate still. I have the shutter working again, but not quite on speed. Another cycle of more solvent, wipe up old grease as it is dissolved, and a drying cycle is needed.

It does sit proudly centred among the other cameras in my cameras and photo ephemera display case.
Right next to it is the pair of double 8 movie cameras that my father shot so many of our memories on.

Hopefully by next summer the little Contessamat will be back to being a user, and not just s shelf queen.

 

[fmajor]

Since i'm the only one in my family of origin who is into photography or anything artistically creative (1st generation!!!!), i'm reading all these posts closely.

I've two young kids (6 and 8) who are showing a burgeoning interest in photography (as well as my wife!!!). For now, they're enjoying the instant results with our little digi p&s cams. However, they love to look through my larger 35mm/RB67 viewfinders so naturally i'm guiding them toward these options. I'm intentionally educating them about different medium's for different uses so they can have a more balanced approach to *their* creative expression - though emphasizing the nuance of film and the benefits of delayed gratification.

That being said, I'm planning on keeping them more 'hands-on' with my film cameras by taking them with me on my photo hikes and everytime i put a camera to use. I've already been planning on having duplicates of my 35mm gear and maybe as time goes i can pick up another RB67 and lens or two to accomodate my preferred (and maybe theirs....) format.

I'll keep the loading on the minimal side to ease their burden - we are also an avid backpacker/mountain hiker family so they're used to carrying packs.

 

[removed-user-1]

My parents used to both be very avid photographers, and I caught the bug from them, and then some. I was the one always "wasting film" on family vacations, with my trusty Instamatic 100 (my first camera, belonged to my grandmother)... Now, I have my Mom's Yashica 635 (and her acoustic guitar), and my Dad's Nikon F kit is at my disposal when I want it - sadly he never shoots anymore. I've tried to get them both to go somewhere interesting with cameras in tow, and even offered to buy the film and process & print it for them. But they just aren't into it anymore. So, I am in a strange pickle, in the sense that I am trying to revive that spark in them, after they kindled my interest in the first place.

I have no children. However, my niece seems very fascinated with cameras... she's almost three. Maybe I can get her interested in analog photography.