I have vague childhood memories watching Formula One on TV with my father, but I didn't start following the sport until much later, when I was in my 30s.
By then my father's dementia was already quite severe. I told him about going to Monza, Spa and Barcelona, and he would briefly mention Ronnie Peterson and Fittipaldi. Like any Swede of his generation would have done, I thought.
But in early 2017, I unexpectedly recognized some very familiar faces going through old family photo albums. Amazing close-ups of both legendary Formula One cars and their drivers!
Turns out my father had been quite the Formula One fan, and that he had been to the first Swedish Grand Prix in Anderstorp 1973.
On June 16, the day before the race, regular visitors like him were apparently allowed to walk around freely in the paddock. The contrast with today's secrecy and off-limits areas is absolutely mind-blowing!
The photos were shot with a simple compact camera, an Agfa Silette 135. I had the slides scanned professionally, then removed dust and speckles but decided to keep all other editing, even the cropping, to an absolute minumum.