Greetings over your interweb devices
“I don’t really have much to say
‘Cause I’m living from day to day
Somewhere.
And I don’t care what the people say
‘Cause if everyone knows the way
We’re nowhere.
Is the image I’m making the image I see
When the man in the mirror is talking to me.”
Before high school, I only knew the snapshot capabilities of Polaroids and Instamatics. Then, I picked up my first 35mm camera, a Nikon which belonged to my pal, Marco Gentile, and I was hooked. Marco taught me not only the fundamentals of using the camera, but basic darkroom techniques, too. As a graduation gift, the Gentile family gave me my first SLR camera (a Topcon which I am holding in the picture) and three extra lenses. It was built to military specs and that sucker was a tank. It was also a door to an entire way of life for me. Ever since, I have never been far from cameras — still or tv/movie, film or digital, mechanical or electronic.
My office is full of negatives, slides, prints, and now, digital files (well, the multi-terabytes of drives which hold the files). Over the last few years I have posted selections from these archives for (I hope) your enjoyment, but also for my own own edification. For the last 957 days, there has been at least one daily post “over the interwebs” which were accompanied by snappy captions, evolving to selected song lyrics, and most recently, essays. The postings have enlightened me, been cathartic, and challenged me to stretch in new and different ways.
I think that now I need to step back for a month or two — get out and take some new pictures, come up with some new ideas, explore some different areas, and (most importantly for me) connect some new dots between history and the current day.
Thank you all for the response and support you have given me along the way, see you later in the summer.
To one and all, Be Safe-Stay Healthy