Pop’s camera bag

Since my Mom passed on my Pop’s camera bag to me, full of his gear, I haven’t been able to open it. That’s a lot of gravity there on the shelf. That bag went everywhere. On boats, on trucks, on trips and to birthdays. Pop would have been 74 today, and man oh man, did he love his birthday. Today I opened his camera bag…

The contents are so him, right down to the toothpicks.

19 rolls of paid-in-advance film, expired in 2007. An reference book for lake boats. Pocket atlas of North America. A stack of his business cards and camera batteries with a surprising expiry date of March 2017. And his Nikon F60. I popped those batteries in the camera…

and it lit right up. I wonder about the last photograph he took with this rig. I wonder if it’s even possible to get the film developed. I’m not entirely sure what I expected to find. The gear is technically unremarkable. The contents, much like those in the bag I carry. He’s what’s missing. He made the friends, the connections and opportunities that made the photos possible.

This one’s for you, Pop.

DW