Dear grand-grandmothers and grandmothers of mine!

How can I explain it to you… Well they say it is a new philosophy, supposedly so new that they are not sure about the name, dataism, or just the data religion: if you make your data available to the internet, well, if you send your experiences, thoughts or just an image to the universe in such a way that anyone can be aware of them, you will become immortal in some sense. Anyway, it is unfortunately too late for me to explain the possibilities and the practicabilities to you, but somehow I have the feeling you have had a premonition of the times to come when the photography had become so popular. Your message is clear. I see it in your eyes as you have looked into the lenses or where the photographer told you. (I can assure you that you have chosen a good photographer!) Yes, I will try to make your persons immortal and publish your photographs online.

And if you happened to live before the age of photography, please do not bother. The memory of your existence has already been preserved anyway.

Dear Ladies, dear grandmothers, the message is short and clear: I love you. And thank you for my life.

Your grandson.

Technical note: Ludwika: scanned from an original positive taken in Warsaw by Atelier Bernardi, and probably processed in Vienna, just(?) before the first world war. Marianna and Zofia: scanned from (photographed) copies from positives from unknown dates, which can be only approximated from the estimated age of the ladies — being a gentleman, I do not dare to wage it and pass it to your judgement. Marianna and Helena: according to the approximate age of Helena, made probably by the end of the first world war.