In The Beginning

Growing up I watched my dad create some of the most gorgeous photos I’ve ever seen. I loved watching him mix the chemicals and to see the funny looking image on the negatives become a work of art. I spent hours with my father in that dark room with the cool red light outside the door and understood if I opened the door when the light was on, the pictures he was creating would be ruined. I loved spending this time with my dad and in the thirty years since his passing, I miss that time and wish I had paid a lot more attention and learned more from him.

I remember daddy giving me my first “real” grown up camera which I still possess; it was a 2 ¼ x2 ¼ box camera by Yaschica. The feel of the leather cover and the little screen you look down into still captures my imagination. I had a few other Kodak instamatic cameras, but this was a real photographer’s camera and it had belonged to my dad. I lost track of this camera for a couple of decades, however a little over a year ago as my sister was going through her deceased husbands belongings found my lost treasure. I cried at the sight of this beauty.

Even though I am much older than when I first received that precious gift from my dad and have gone through several cameras since, I have grown up and into a photographer and have learned the technology behind going digital. My dad would have loved this new world of photography and I know he would have embraced it as fervently as I have. I miss the smell of those chemicals in his dark room, but I imagine being with him every time I click on my PhotoShop icon. Daddy and I would have had a grand time, he has been gone now for thirty years, but his memory lives in every single photograph I take. His legacy was not only passed down to myself, but to my youngest son who is an incredibly talented photographer. Daddy it’s to you I dedicate my first blog post.