Photographic Evidence

Most people who know me know me to be a bit of a photo nut. I try the patience of my friends on a regular basis by taking whole scads of pictures. Those people likely won’t be too happy about the news that my father bought me a Nikon D60 Digital SLR recently to assure I would be capturing Japan in its full, RAW glory. On the surface, I’m a lucky, spoiled git that just got a pretty clicky thing. But getting this from my father…it means a lot to me.

My father has always had cameras around. Video cameras and underwater cameras and SLR cameras and point-and-shoot cameras. To call him a photophile would be a bit of an understatement. The guy almost missed my birth because he was out stocking up on film.

Throughout my childhood, my father’s Big Black Camera was a staple. A big, black, heavy Nikon F3, back in the days when they were still making the bodies out of brass and not plastic. The camera's omnipresence--as well as the beautiful photos he pulled out of it--bred this tacit belief in me that this camera was the pinnacle of photographic elegance. My father and that Nikon inspired me to strive for something more than snapshots of parties or token attractions. From his example, I held SLR cameras in the highest esteem, and I viewed Nikons as the kings among SLRs. Tacitly, I would dream of one day owning a REAL camera like his.

And now he’s come through: my dad--encouraging me again with this Nikon he's bought me. So, it is more in my eyes than a fancy new toy. It is my part of a kind of photographic legacy that my dad passed down to my older brother Curt, and that he has now passed down to me. The history, for me, makes this more than a camera.

So thanks, Daddio.

Thanks a lot.