Camera Like Dad's

It's really wonderful to share interests and passions with your children. I've always loved to play basketball, and my sons do, too. I'm getting old and slow, so there's no way that I can play now against either son. My elder son is 16 y.o., 6' 4" tall, and 175 lbs. He even beats me when we play H-O-R-S-E.
 
I'll revive this old thread. My son, Tim, turned 16 in April. The 'little guy' is now 6' 1" tall. He has taken a leave from photography, but he told me he would like to start shooting again. I planted the seed, but how it grows will be up to him.
 
After using Canon and Nikon SLRs for 20 years I switched to Pentax (mostly).
I bought my wife a K1000 to replace one that she lost in college, before we met.
My daughter uses a Pentax DSLR but has yet to try out the KM I gave her.

My father served on a US Navy destroyer in The Pacific during WWII.
Until his death in 1977 he refused to buy anything made in Japan.
He definitely wouldn't be pleased with my camera buying history...

Chris
 
RObert Budding said:
And here's a recent shot that I took of Tim playing basketball. He's now 5' 10" tall. It will be difficult when the time comes to send him off to college.
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I made the mistake of not checking the thread and post dates, read that he was 6 years old, saw this post and thought your son must have hit puberty at the age of 3. Good to hear about Tim -- hopefully he gets back into photography!
 
Good job brainwashing Tim :eek:. My Dad brainwashed me with accounting, telling me that it was the best thing ever. So much, that at age 12, I was already making annotations in the bank books and learning to do trial balances. Secretly, I hated accounting, but under the stairs, I had my dark room and developed my own contact sheet photos. I think my first camera was a Kodak, I do not remember the name (1963). Once in College (1970), I got my first Pentax K1000 that lasted many years.
 
Chris - my father grew up in WWII in Burma, under Japanese occupation. My wife's family were in Singapore during the Japanese occupation there. Their tales of brutality are chilling.
My father refused to purchase any car made in Japan. So, we had a long line of American cars, then lately German. Sorry, Detroit, but your cars in the 1970-1990s era really are terrible.

For my part, I don't have this animosity against Japan, so I happily drive a Toyota (which was built in Canada anyway), and use Japanese cameras. Though, the Germans have made headway into my life, much to the chagrin of my wife. She is shocked at how much more Leica stuff costs compared to Nikon!

My son is 6, and he is interested in my cameras. He has his own digital camera, but one day he wants to graduate to a "real" film camera. I'll get him using my old Canon point and shoot soon.
 
Thanks for the updates, it is quite fascinating to chart the journey from 6 to 16. The likelihood is that while he might not do as much composed and deliberate photography, he will still be using his cellphone and the lessons he learned as a little boy will shine through even there.
 
Nice story. I didn't see it years ago, and it was odd and nice to find it now, kinda like a time capsule.

I just photographed my 5 year old nephew. With a Mamiya RZ67. He tried to step around me to see the back of the camera, asking, "can i see the picture?" Expecting an LCD screen. I told him it was a film camera. That didn't seem to register, as a few moments later, he blinked during a shot and asked me to delete it.
 
Too Funny!

Too Funny!

Yes, this is an old thread. And I'm feeling like an old guy!

My older son, Phil, is 18 and heading off to college next year. He never had an interest in photography beyond cell phone snaps, but he did appreciate the sports photos that I took of him growing up.

And one more update on Tim - his grandfather has given him a nice Nikon F with a 50/1.2 that he bought new sometime around 1960. I'll load it with B&W film and we'll see what happens.
 
RObert Budding said:
I gave my son, Timothy, age 6, the digicam that he wanted for Christmas. He took 189 shots on Christmas day! Then he asked when his prints would be ready!!! Well, I explained that we would only print his very best shots, which he accepted.

It's now 6 months later, and something wonderful has happened. Tim wants a camera "just like Dad's camera." Sorry Tim, a Contax IIIa isn't a camera that you'll own anytime soon. But I did give him an Olympus Trip 35, and he loves it. I showed him how I load the film, set the film ASA, and how the zone focus works. I then explained that shooting film is different from digital. And that I won't pay to have 5 rolls of film processed each day.

Tim loves his film camera. He now thinks more about how to compose his shots (I compared it to drawing - he needs to think about where to place things on his photos. I've also encouraged him to try different angles and to move around to find the shot.

Not everything has worked perfectly, though. I took a photo of Tim with his own camera towards the end of his first roll. I thought it odd that the counter registered that only 7 photos had been taken. So I asked him what had happened. He explained that he had taken the camera into the garage, where there was less light, and had opened the camera to look at the film! He was a little upset when I told him that his hard work was now ruined. But I did salvage the situation. I told him that the first roll was just to practice using the camera. We then unloaded hte cartridge and I showed him how I open up the film in the darkroom and load it on a film spool for processing.

What next? Tim wants to learn how to print in the darkroom!

Robert
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Sounds like he might be ready for the Contax... :)
 
ChrisPlatt said:
After using Canon and Nikon SLRs for 20 years I switched to Pentax (mostly).
I bought my wife a K1000 to replace one that she lost in college, before we met.
My daughter uses a Pentax DSLR but has yet to try out the KM I gave her.

My father served on a US Navy destroyer in The Pacific during WWII.
Until his death in 1977 he refused to buy anything made in Japan.
He definitely wouldn't be pleased with my camera buying history...

Chris
Click to expand...

The Japanese had a totally different belief about how to treat subjected peoples and POWs, and others who may have surrendered, much different for the most part, than the Germans or we or others in the West. For that and other reasons, they were more vilified than the Germans.

When my brother, about 1954-55, married a girl he met in Japan, much of my family had problems understanding why he would do such a thing. They eventually pretty much let it go however, given a little time. But feelings did run strong against the Japanese for quite a while.

Your father may seem to have been a little extreme, but he had a lot of company. I hope you gave him understanding. He not doubt needed it. And the more action he saw against the Japanese Navy, the more he would have needed it. Especially being on a destroyer.
 
RObert Budding said:
Or maybe a Nikon S2 . . . I sold the Contax long ago to partially fund a Mamiya 7II.
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You have let him see a good path. I bet he will eventually want to jump back into photography, whether film, digital, or both. I did. Give him opportunities when you can, and let him decide if or when.
 
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