Recently, at the behest of my mother and following the death of my father, I’ve been rooting around in the loft.
Previously hidden or lost gems from which I’ve wiped away decades of dirt include a Eumig Super 8 film projector that, functional or not, is a thing of beauty, plus an old Goodmans stereo amplifier – likewise I’m guessing 1970s – with chunky knobs adorning its classic warm wood veneer.
While eBay suggests each is worth around $100, I’m tempted to hang on to them and bring them back into service – however naively romantic a notion.
Surprisingly, I’m less sentimental regarding cameras. I’m all ready to photograph and list a 20-year-old Fujifilm FinePix super zoom and Panasonic 3CCD digital camcorder when my mother hands me a wallet with a “I don’t know what this is…”
‘Smart’ move?
Opening the wallet I find a couple of SmartMedia cards, the format abandoned by Fuji for, initially, xD-Picture Card and then the universally accepted SD/SDHC memory card. One card bears the name of my now grown-up niece, who would have been, at the time, my parents’ first grandchild.
PC card, floppy disc, mini compact disc, SmartMedia card, Memory Stick card, xD Picture Card, CompactFlash and SD card
It isn’t just that familial discovery that gives me pause. The phased-out cards’ dimensions are much larger than remembered. Each is the size of an After Eight mint. On reflection, given our current age of ‘smart’ tech, SmartMedia was a great name for a solid-state memory format; shame it didn’t last.
Further hunting unearths a card reader the size of a generous wedge of cheese.
“You may as well get rid of that and the camera,” my mother suggests.
“But if I do, how are you going to look at whatever’s on here?” I ask.
An examination of the bag that came with the range-topping Panasonic camcorder similarly reveals half a dozen obsolete MiniDV cassettes. Not all are labelled, but two read: ‘Cruise’ and ‘Family’.
Charging up the device and popping in a cassette I witness my mother’s demeanour – and mindset – change. On the ‘cruise’ tape my father is giving a commentary while filming. It’s the first time she has heard his voice since his death.
The ‘family’ tape begins with my now wife and I arriving to a chorus of ‘Happy Christmas!’. In the present day, my mother asks why our daughter isn’t with us.
“I don’t think she’s been born yet,” I reason.
Sure enough, five minutes into the recording my brother and sister-in-law arrive with their then three-year-old – some six years older than our own child – my sister-in-law heavily pregnant with her second. My Dad is again the one filming and, funnily enough, as he mutters away, my mother is shown using the now ‘vintage’ FinePix to take photos.
Now we are also hearing my three-year-old niece talking excitedly. Reliving these old forgotten memories has stopped us both in our tracks.
“It’s like time travelling,” I say.
“It really is,” my mother agrees.
“I think we better hold off selling these for now, Mum,” I suggest.
The kit itself is long redundant. But what it can show us is timeless. And also, sorry eBay, priceless.
Related reading
- Have we already reached ‘peak camera’ technology?
- How to make sure you never lose your photos again (backup, backup, backup)
- Here’s what I’ve learned from taking 200,000 photos in 25 years
The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Amateur Photographer magazine or Kelsey Media Limited. If you have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic, or any other photography related subject, email: ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk
