Childhood memory: My first camera and my dream

I was given the box brownie at the age of 9, but my dream from the age of 10 was to own a Nikon F - One day when holidaying in Bournemouth with my parents, we visited a cafe for afternoon tea, and there was a chap sitting at one of the other tables with a Nikon F lying on the table next to him. He must have seen my eyes out on stalks, as he offered me to hold and look through the camera.

At that age it was no more than a dream, but just that one moment of being able to look directly through the lens to focus the camera got me totally hooked, both on photography, and on a life-long ownership of Nikon cameras. I bought my first Nikon aged only 14, (which in those days, was pretty unheard of - there were no "entry level cameras" then), and by 16, I had my first Nikon F2, the Nikon F was bought some years later - it was the camera that started me on the journey, so I simply had to own one.

Thanks to the guy in that cafe, 40+ years ago, who got me started. And the Brownie - well, as Kodak announce they are going under, it seems pertinent for it to be in the picture.