Noel William Lovett 1931 - 2023

Dad's funeral today - it went as well as one can ever expect these things to go - and the family have had a lovely day remembering him and celebrating his life.

I didn't take any photos today, but as I am sure you realise, it wasn't really a day for taking photos. Instead, here is a photograph of Dad taken back in 2015, when he was a mere 85.  

Dad had bought a Kodak Retinette (a rangefinder fixed lens camera) in 1957 and kept a notebook in which he recorded the date, subject and camera settings for every picture that he took with it.  (Do I need to mention that he was an Engineer?).   When he eventually upgraded to a Minolta in the 70's he did the same for that camera.  As a result we have a tremendous family history archive telling us where he was and what he was doing whenever he used a camera.

Dad remained a keen photographer, and at some stage in retirement  he had treated himself to a Canon camera body and several lenses which he very much enjoyed using.

I'd chosen Canon as my first DSLR  but I'd moved on to Nikon when the D100 came out and DSLR digital photography became a practical option.  Despite my encouragement over what I saw (and still see) as the advantages of Nikon glass, he wasn't convinced and had insisted on going down the Canon route.  To be fair, he was always very happy with his Canon.

As a result, it somehow seems very appropriate to conclude my day of celebrating Dad's memory with a shot of him,  complete with camera.