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10-15-2001 @ 10:24 p.m.
Grandpa's Legacy

Stacey came to visit me today bearing a gift. She bought me a camera bag. A camera bag! I was so excited. It a very needed and thoughtful gift. It was also a sign of her acceptance and approval of my photography. Knowing that she wants to be a professional portrait artist, I was a tiny bit concerned that she might feel like I was horning in on her gig, but she loves having someone to mentor and to talk shop with. It's wonderful.

I had a poignant moment this morning. I developed 2 rolls of film and when I took them out of the tank, I realized that one of the rolls was the last roll of film my grandfather shot. It was the film that was in his camera at the time of his death 10 years ago. I inherited his camera in a roundabout fashion--it went first to Amy but she didn't use it and didn't think she would learn how to use it so she gave it to me.

So today I looked at negatives he shot. He wrote a book about mining, smelting and railroading in the county where he lived and he took most of the photographs that were used in the book. This roll of film contained pictures of railroad cars and I think it was for another book project. He was always wanting to document history, being the amateur historian he was. He was a lot of things--historian, geologist, photographer, conservationist, horseman, gardener, storyteller, cowboy poet. I lived with him and my grandmother for my last two years of high school and I didn't really appreciate all his interests and talents until much later. And all too soon he was gone, a scant 2 months after my grandmother died.

I scrambled to try to remember all the stories he told over and over. Suddenly the stories all melded together, details of one running into the details of another until it was one big mishmash of a story. Why didn't I pay more attention? Why didn't I write them down? Why did I joke about already having heard them when I'd only passively heard them and not paid close attention. Now I can't remember much about the stories. But I have his photos--the ones I just developed, yes, but also years and years of pictures of family and horseback rides and vacations and historical sites.

At least I have his photos.

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