Does anyone else have family generations of photographers?

[HNoel]

Upon my mother's recent move, I became the keeper of our family's boxes (upon boxes) of photographs. To my surprise, I discovered that my great-great-great-grandfather was quite the enthusiastic photographer in the early 1900s.

Let me just say—my great-grandfather might be the most thoroughly documented child of that era, judging by the sheer number of prints. Using his old Brownie camera (which I dearly wish I had today), he captured not only his family but also the everyday details of farm life: animals, equipment, and wide rural landscapes.

I now have his prints and the era’s version of a photo album—small 1x1 or 1x2 inch images carefully glued onto pages. It’s deeply heartwarming to know that I’m carrying on this passion generations later, adding to this visual legacy for my family’s future.

Anyone else have family heirlooms, or past relatives who enjoyed the art of photography? 

[deebatman316]

In my family it only goes back to my dad and uncle who started out as Minolta A Mount shooters in 1985. My dad owned the Minolta Maxxum 7000/ 7000AF/ Alpha 7000 & my uncle owned the Minolta Maxxum 9000/ 9000AF/ Alpha 9000. Later they would switch to the Canon EF with the EOS 650 & EOS 620 after they found the AF to be faster with in lens AF motors. Minolta at the time used a motor in the camera body for AF later they would switch to in lens AF motors. But with this change they broke compatibility with older A Mount cameras released prior to 1998. Minolta added additional contact pins in the mount for lenses with in lens AF motors. In 2006 Sony would buy the A Mount out from Minolta. Then would drop the Maxxum (NA) and Dynax (EU/ UK) branding in use for the Alpha branding already in use in Asia & Japan. Minolta was the first camera manufacturer to use a new integrated lens mount for AF which they called the A Mount. This new mount would utilize a motor in the camera body for AF and aperture lever to control the aperture from the camera body. Minolta would sell their SR Mount found on MF SLRs. In 1987 Canon would go a step further and make their new EF mount 100% electronic. Before Canon switched from the FD Mount to the EF Mount. Canon tried adding AF to the FD by using Minolta's approach by placing the AF motor in the camera body. But this method proved to be slow since the motor isn't optimized for each lens. Instead its a one-size-fits-all approach that would make small lenses focus fast but big lenses focus slow. Minolta had bought the AF technology that Olympus had developed. Only to find out they would be in lawsuit by Honeywell and later Exxon (now ExxonMobil) for using the Maxxum name with crossed X's. Which closely resembles Exxon's (now ExxonMobil's) company logo.

[kvbarkley]

I don't really, but the Online Photographer reported that the late George Wendt's maternal grandfather was the photographer that snuck the picture of Ruth Snyder as she died in the electric chair.

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2025/05/norm-and-his-photo-history...

[Tintype_18]

I have hundreds of photo and need to go through more to ID who-what-where. The two that come to mind: one is a photo of a Cherokee ancestor (I'm fifth generation at 77 so you can do the math) and one of my maternal grandmother pregnant with the oldest girl which would be 1919. I have some tintypes but need to go back and do the homework.