Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My interest in photography started around seven years of age, when film became plentiful again and my uncle brought his pre-war Rolleiflex out of the cigar cabinet in his living room and satisfied my curiosity by showing me how to operate it. That experience launched a two year pestering campaign that resulted in my father giving me an Argus C3 for my ninth birthday, on advice of his good friend who was a newspaper staff photographer. Supplied with outdated film from the paper, I shot like mad and learned the elements of composition through the finder, dimly, by trial and error. Undaunted, I began processing my own film in our basement, but without an enlarger, had to settle for contacts of 35mm negatives! On my thirteenth birthday, that same uncle totally surprised me with a slightly used Rolleiflex 2.8E, which became my main camera during the high school years. I was a subordinate staffer on the school paper, and that GREAT instrument allowed many of my photos of campus life to become published. Oh, the chief photographer of the paper during my freshman year was none other than Speed Graphic-toting Bill Pierce, who went on to become a distinguished LIFE staffer and well-known author. My involvement with Leica happened at high school graduation, when my father and uncle collaborated to present me with a new Leica IIIg, 50mm f/2.8 Elmar combination. It's been all downhill from there! BTW I still have the C3, Rollei and IIIg in my possession. My three sons trained on the Rollei, and now two of them have their own The Rollei and IIIg were overhauled within the past year and have re-entered occasional service. Working again with these cameras that reflect so many pleasant memories of my youth is such a fulfilling, almost mystical ritual. May God bless the sensitive adults who encouraged us all as children... Len