WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Once upon a time in a far far away land lived a nine year old boy in a well to do family.
The little boy who always finished school years as one of the top in his class, had already that year early on made a deal with his father that if he finished the school year at the top of his class he would be rewarded with a “chopper style” bicycle which was back then the latest craze amongst kids and boys.
The boys hobbies were buying publications in English about automobiles and photography even though he couldnt understand English. he cherished looking at the photos of the publication, he had familiarized himself though with the technical jargon in both automotive and photography, for example he could as a child explain better than an adult what torque was or what BHP in regards to cars meant or even what an appature in photography stood for and so on, so that he could fathom the gist of what was being discussed in different articles. Often he was rediculed by his peers and even his Uncle for spending his money on magazines in languages he didnt understand.
On that particular year the plan was that in the summer holidays he would along with his mother and sister travel to London once again for a 4 week period to stay with his Aunt: This was nothing new to his family except that year his father wouldnt be travelling with them as he had a business trip planned to visit the Komatsu heavy machinary Factory in Tokyo Japan.one day toward the end of year when he was alone with his father in the car he started a conversation with his father about preferring to forgo the trip to England and give up the Idea of a Chopper bicycle and to stay with his grand parents for the summer holidays to save his father a bunch of money. His father was baffled and explained that we dont need to save money and that he was confused as to why a nine year old boy was at all concerning himself with financial wellbing of his family. to that the boy replied that since his father wouldnt be there he had no appetite to travel besides he would rather instead his father brought him somethin back from Tokyo, something that perhaps was a little too expensive.
So the father quickly caught on to the idea and asked the little boy what it was that he so wanted, the boy began explaining his yearning for a new SLR camera, one that had taken the markets by storm, arguable the best camera out their on the market, the Flagship from Canon, the Canon F1 SLR camera, Never before had a cameras shutter speed reached the speeds of 1/2000th of a second, a camera which you could even photograph the sun with.Of course the camera the boy wished for was 3 times the price of a bicyle, to be exact it carried a price tag of 500USD, that was a wapping sum for a camera in the early 1970s. His father lectured him about how that is not how it works in their family and the travel planns remain as they were and that he should concentrate on his school and when he was a little older they could maybe discuss his camera wish in future.
That year the school ended, the boy finished again at the top of his class and spent a marvelous summer in London’s Marble Arch, near Hyde park where he visited the park daily to enjoy his summer holidays. He had 2 hours a day of English Language school in Oxford street which he saw as instrumental if he ever wanted to understand the magazines and publications in English which he bought all the time with his pocket money.
The family returned home late August that year. to be exact on 17.Aug. 1973. Unbeknown to the young boy this was a date that would be etched into his memory for the rest of his life. they were picked up from the airport by his father at home and as he arrived home a little white box awaited him. He ripped the box up in haste and with teary eyes he pulled out a brand new Canon F1 Direct from the manufacturers in Japan, the father had visited the factory and had brought fotos of the works. This was a little boy in tears of joy.
Shortly thereafter before the new school year had begun the nine year old boy had produces the following photos with his pride and joy Camera, and almost 50 years on the little boy still has his first SLR camera safely locked away in a showcase cabinet in his studio.
