89th Year

As you know I am in Fredericksburg visiting my Dad while my stepmother Najia is out of town.  He will be 89 in August, right around the corner!  I was anticipating having a lot of spare time in the two weeks I will be here so I brought a scanner and piles of old family photos, a project I have been saving for when I have some spare time.

It has been pretty fascinating and fun to see everything, some images I remember well and some I don't think I've seen before.  I am struck by how many photographs we have.  My mother's family the Schindlers, Campbells and Speichers were photo maniacs and regularly hired professional photographers.  My father's family the Kurths also had some professional work, plus lots of snapshots.  By the time I was born Dad was a madman with his camera and there are there are so many photos of me and my four siblings that it is going to take a long time to scan, sort and catalog them all.  I expect to have a lot less time for all this when I get home to Vermont, but am energized about the whole endeavor.

Yesterday Dad and I went on a short outing for some exercise and, yes, I had my camera.  The above photo is Dad on his graduation day from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, 1948.  He studied mechanical engineering.  The photo below was taken yesterday here in Fredericksburg.  I think he still looks amazing and has always been very photogenic.  If you had asked me years ago why I chose photography, I would have said it was because I always wanted to be an artist but found I did not like painting.  Now I might say I inherited the gene!