Homage to a Great Man

Photography is a hobby that seems to run in my family – my sister is a photographer, my mother is a photographer, my father is a photographer, my grandfather was a photographer, and my great-grandfather was a photographer.  If relatives even further back had access to a camera obscura or a sliding box camera, I’m sure they were photographers, too.  If we put all of our cameras together, we’d have enough stock for a small museum.  They range from late 1800s/early 1900s to modern DSLRs.  A No. 2 Brownie sits on my bookshelf, longing for a fresh roll of 120 film.

A quick look into the cozy photography storage chest reveals Canon, Kodak, Nikon, Pax, Rolleiflex, Topcon, and Voigtlander (and probably more).  The bellows cameras are stored elsewhere, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine their makers.  (That’s for another day.)

Today’s hunt revealed my grandfather’s Nikon N6006 with an AF Zoom Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 lens attached.  After figuring out how to remove it (switch to manual-focus mode), a quick test revealed that it worked with my Nikon D70; I set out to discover its personality.

I took a trip to Fort Williams Park [slash] Portland Headlight in Cape Elizabeth, ME.  It’s a location that I’m very familiar with and have photographed many times.  I wanted to try the lens in a variety of situations, and Fort Williams has a little bit of everything.  (Except for portrait opportunities, in this case, since I was wandering aimlessly by myself.)  In honor of my grandfather, the film camera from which the lens was uncoupled, and the scores of black and white film that can be developed in one man’s lifetime, I decided to process my favorite shots from today in black and white.

Thinking back, I never really thought to share my photography with my grandfather; I really wish I had.  This series is for him.

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~ by Audra Hatch on April 10, 2011.