Thanks for writing this. It was very well said. It sounds like you are doing an excellent job at being the keeper of records and memorabilia for your family. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it in the years to come.

In my family I am the keeper of records and memorabilia. I have my great grandfather’s Zeiss Ikon Nettar, my grandpa’s Altix and my dad’s FED 3. I have since added quite a few of my own to the collection I hope to one day pass on to my sons.

As a photographer myself, it gives me great joy knowing that, as the men before me, I still use the same tools to continue capturing the journey of our lineage. Having a tangible relic from your ancestors helps bridge the gap otherwise filled by imagination.

Having said that, do know that your discovery of what it meant to him, the realization of how he felt, is exactly what would make your dad smile today. Tools come and go, get broken and replaced, but the understanding of the man behind the lens is what truly matters. He would be proud!

Peter, I’m happy this rang true for you. I’m sorry to hear about your father’s recent passing. It’s so nice that you have the camera and the scans.

Jörg-Peter, thanks for posting this. I’m happy you were able to keep your dad’s OM-4. I’ll look out for piece on the Italy trip.

William, many thanks for the lovely comment, which accompanies the article so well. I hope the Super Baldina stays in the family for many generations to come.

Thanks Arthur!

Before he passed away in 2002, my father knew that I had developed an interest in photography, just like my older and younger brothers, and that I was a member of Dublin Camera Club. When he retired in 1981 we bought him a Bolex 8mm cine camera and he spent many happy hours in the early years of his retirement making films of his grandchildren, which my older brother has now transferred to CDs, so that we can view ‘the way we were’.

He would be astonished with the extent of my involvement with photography these days, not only as a photographer, but also on the admin side of things as a Chair of a Photo Museum and VP of a camera society and as an author and erstwhile historian of sorts. The Doha reference in your article also rang a bell for me, as I spent 5 years working in Doha, starting about 19 years ago. I have a photo taken in Doha in 2006, by my wife, showing our grandson Joe standing in front of an ostrich, not astride one like yourself. I will share it with you through Mike.

I have a saying that ‘family comes first’ and family connections are the most precious and important ones that we have. I have a large collection of cameras, including many Leicas, but, for me, by far the most important item that I have is my father’s Super Baldina, as images of all of us have passed through the lens of that camera, framed and focussed by my father, my ‘cameraman’.

William