DownUnder
awol (temporarily I hope)
Just now I posted in a Leica thread. And it got me to thinking (yep, again!).
Looking back over my life, eight decades of it, and my photography, I'm pondering how my visual style, viewpoints and the 'physicals' of my progression in this art (some would call it craft) happened and developed over that time of my life.
Each decade of my life has had difference meanings, in photo terms. Cameras are only part of it. How I used them, and what I did with them, are more important. An integral part of my teen years, young adulthood, and now in my old age.
I was always interested in cameras. As a young in Canada, I played with my parents' Kodak Brownie used by my stepdad from 1947 to document my childhood. And the cameras of other family,. I clicked and fiddled with those so much, one aunt (wisely) hid her precious Kodak 620 from me, fearing I would damage or break it. (To her credit and mine she is 90 now, still has her camera, and while long unused it still functions.)
Do you remember 616 film? 116, 112, 828 Bantam and other odd formats, all now history. IIn 1959 I bought my first rolls of 616 Verichrome Pan. My early images were far from memorable, but I still have a few negatives from that time, all valued. In those long ago days 'D&P' was by the local pharmacist who used Kodak Tri-Chem packs and made contact prints on Velox paper. Enlargements were rare, precious things, 'rationed' for weddings, baptisms and funerals.
In 1961 I set up a home darkroom, in the family bathroom which I hogged for hours at night. An Anscomatic tank, Javex bottles for my chemistry, a WW2 era metal contact printer, Kodak Velox paper and three of my mom's baking trays. I stained the wash basin which annoyed my stepmom. Prints were given to family members. I subscribed to photo magazines, notably US Camera which introduced me to quality imagery by legendary photographers.
In 1962 I got into journalism, writing articles on local events for daily newspapers. For ten cents per column inch and $5 and $3 for news photos from two papers. I got into all this with my usual high energy and in 12 months I was earning more as a part-time freelancer than my dad did at his job, which created a fair bit of family angst, especially envy from my younger brother who had only a $2 weekly allowance.
That year I bought my first enlarger, a massive 4x5 thing from Burke & James in, IRRC, Chicago, delivered by mail order. Also a Yashica D TLR and my first 120 film - Verichrome Pan. Fifty cents a roll, $10 for a brick. Yep, them good old days.
I did weddings, babies, local news events and landscapes, printed on Kodabromide processed in Dektol, all we had then came from Kodak or Ansco, with a few rarities like Varigam from DuPont, Ilford being reserved for those elitist photographers in faraway exotic places like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. I did a lot of news photography and some art work which I sold by mail order to American buyers. A collector from Arizona bought a few dozen 8x10s and 11x14s, all chocolate-boxy fishing scenes taken in eastern Canada. To this day I wonder how many of my early work has survived. A museum also acquired images of historical interest, paying very little for them.
A few hundred ancient negatives have survived. For VP developed in DK60a, they enlarge surprisingly well.
That year I was sent (= forced) to a boarding school, supposedly to improve my academic standing but really to instill 'discipline' my step mom was convinced I needed. She was conformist and anxious and neurotically religious, and it severely upset her when neighbors said I was "different" from my school peers who were into sports, parties and dancing on weekends and being popular with their Alpha Male mates and of course girls. While I read books, wrote news items and articles, took long walks with my camera, and did generally solitary things. In 1960s French Canada to be "different" was akin to residing on an alien planet.
At the school I went on doing photography (to a lesser extent) and had a makeshift darkroom, A teacher had an Exakta which he kindly loaned me. I had my Yashica TLR and I developed but couldn't print my films. For three years I hated my teachers and my fellow students and the, to me, stultifying regime. I considered my boarding school years as a prison sentence, but I now realize how open-minded and progressive some of my teachers were. And I accept my time there prepared me for a more worldly adulthood, a lifelong wish to always improve myself, and travel.
In 1965 I got into full-time journalism. My first job as a new reporter paid CDN $35 a 40+ hour week. I did all but sports which I was no good at, whether playing or writing. After 15 difficult months (by which time I earned $45) I moved on to a better paying news job. Photography added to my work salary, mostly from weddings which (I happily gave up doing in 1967) and studio work which I did at home with one stand of old style Photofloods and a Metz electronic flash unit.
My cameras came and went. A Yashica D, then an A, later a '35 which I liked as it took 120 and 35mm film. In 1966 I got a new Rolleiflex 3.5E2, ordered by our local dentist who passed away before it was delivered. I paid CDN $195 for it (the widow kindly gifted me the deposit), a fortune at that time. I still have this Rollei, rarely used but part of my history.
This will suffice for now. I will go on in a future episode.
Others please join in with your own photo histories. As we know, almost everything has changed since the '60s. This may be an interesting and educational thread.
Looking back over my life, eight decades of it, and my photography, I'm pondering how my visual style, viewpoints and the 'physicals' of my progression in this art (some would call it craft) happened and developed over that time of my life.
Each decade of my life has had difference meanings, in photo terms. Cameras are only part of it. How I used them, and what I did with them, are more important. An integral part of my teen years, young adulthood, and now in my old age.
I was always interested in cameras. As a young in Canada, I played with my parents' Kodak Brownie used by my stepdad from 1947 to document my childhood. And the cameras of other family,. I clicked and fiddled with those so much, one aunt (wisely) hid her precious Kodak 620 from me, fearing I would damage or break it. (To her credit and mine she is 90 now, still has her camera, and while long unused it still functions.)
Do you remember 616 film? 116, 112, 828 Bantam and other odd formats, all now history. IIn 1959 I bought my first rolls of 616 Verichrome Pan. My early images were far from memorable, but I still have a few negatives from that time, all valued. In those long ago days 'D&P' was by the local pharmacist who used Kodak Tri-Chem packs and made contact prints on Velox paper. Enlargements were rare, precious things, 'rationed' for weddings, baptisms and funerals.
In 1961 I set up a home darkroom, in the family bathroom which I hogged for hours at night. An Anscomatic tank, Javex bottles for my chemistry, a WW2 era metal contact printer, Kodak Velox paper and three of my mom's baking trays. I stained the wash basin which annoyed my stepmom. Prints were given to family members. I subscribed to photo magazines, notably US Camera which introduced me to quality imagery by legendary photographers.
In 1962 I got into journalism, writing articles on local events for daily newspapers. For ten cents per column inch and $5 and $3 for news photos from two papers. I got into all this with my usual high energy and in 12 months I was earning more as a part-time freelancer than my dad did at his job, which created a fair bit of family angst, especially envy from my younger brother who had only a $2 weekly allowance.
That year I bought my first enlarger, a massive 4x5 thing from Burke & James in, IRRC, Chicago, delivered by mail order. Also a Yashica D TLR and my first 120 film - Verichrome Pan. Fifty cents a roll, $10 for a brick. Yep, them good old days.
I did weddings, babies, local news events and landscapes, printed on Kodabromide processed in Dektol, all we had then came from Kodak or Ansco, with a few rarities like Varigam from DuPont, Ilford being reserved for those elitist photographers in faraway exotic places like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. I did a lot of news photography and some art work which I sold by mail order to American buyers. A collector from Arizona bought a few dozen 8x10s and 11x14s, all chocolate-boxy fishing scenes taken in eastern Canada. To this day I wonder how many of my early work has survived. A museum also acquired images of historical interest, paying very little for them.
A few hundred ancient negatives have survived. For VP developed in DK60a, they enlarge surprisingly well.
That year I was sent (= forced) to a boarding school, supposedly to improve my academic standing but really to instill 'discipline' my step mom was convinced I needed. She was conformist and anxious and neurotically religious, and it severely upset her when neighbors said I was "different" from my school peers who were into sports, parties and dancing on weekends and being popular with their Alpha Male mates and of course girls. While I read books, wrote news items and articles, took long walks with my camera, and did generally solitary things. In 1960s French Canada to be "different" was akin to residing on an alien planet.
At the school I went on doing photography (to a lesser extent) and had a makeshift darkroom, A teacher had an Exakta which he kindly loaned me. I had my Yashica TLR and I developed but couldn't print my films. For three years I hated my teachers and my fellow students and the, to me, stultifying regime. I considered my boarding school years as a prison sentence, but I now realize how open-minded and progressive some of my teachers were. And I accept my time there prepared me for a more worldly adulthood, a lifelong wish to always improve myself, and travel.
In 1965 I got into full-time journalism. My first job as a new reporter paid CDN $35 a 40+ hour week. I did all but sports which I was no good at, whether playing or writing. After 15 difficult months (by which time I earned $45) I moved on to a better paying news job. Photography added to my work salary, mostly from weddings which (I happily gave up doing in 1967) and studio work which I did at home with one stand of old style Photofloods and a Metz electronic flash unit.
My cameras came and went. A Yashica D, then an A, later a '35 which I liked as it took 120 and 35mm film. In 1966 I got a new Rolleiflex 3.5E2, ordered by our local dentist who passed away before it was delivered. I paid CDN $195 for it (the widow kindly gifted me the deposit), a fortune at that time. I still have this Rollei, rarely used but part of my history.
This will suffice for now. I will go on in a future episode.
Others please join in with your own photo histories. As we know, almost everything has changed since the '60s. This may be an interesting and educational thread.
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