Waiting for the photo

I am still thinking about photography today.   I wrote a blog about old photos yesterday and this is a follow up to that blog.  I have mentioned any number of times how much I enjoy taking photos.  My Aunt Louise bought me my first camera when I was around nine.  I wrote about that in my very first blog here several years ago. I found the photo above of my exact camera on google.  I was surprised to find the exact one as "Imperial" is not exactly a well known brand.    I was thinking today about how photography has changed in the digital age.  There was an excitement and anticipation about taking photos pre digital.   You would have to go out and buy a roll of film.  I used to like to use Kodak 620 Verichrome Pan.   It would cost me almost a weeks allowance for the roll of film. Ansco film was a little less expensive so I used that often also.   620 Kodacolor was out of my range.   So like most people back then I shot my photos in black and white.

That little bright yellow, red and block box held a weekends worth of fun for me.  The film came wrapped in a metallic little bad to protect it.  You had to break the seal on the side of the film to open the roll and then place it in your camera.  Then you had to manually attached it to the spool inside your camera.  And finally you had to  wind the film into position until you saw the number one in the back of the little window in your camera.  It you didn't get it set right you might only get half a photo.  And who wanted to waste a photo when you only got twelve exposures to a roll of film.

It seems impossible now but a little roll of twelve exposure film would last a long time.  I remember a sixth grade field trip to Washington D.C. and I used one roll of film to document the day.  I came home with a photo of the White House, a photo of the Washington Monument and a photo taken from the top of the Washington Monument.  I had a photo of a friend taken inside the school bus.  There were no selfies, no special angles, or multiple shots of the same place.  But I did have a full days experience documented on a roll of twelve exposure film.  And the anticipation set in, waiting to see the developed photos.  I would take my roll of film down to Mrs. Waller at The Harford Stationery Store on Washington Street in my home town of Havre de Grace. She would then have it sent over to Pershing Studio a couple of blocks away for development.  It usually took four or five days to have the completed photos returned.  And Mrs. Waller looked at every photo that came into her store.  And she would let you know if she liked them or not.  There are no secrets in a small town.

A few years later when I was in junior high school Polaroid came out with something magical.  They created a Polaroid Land Camera that was affordable for everyone.  Their original camera was quite expensive and was not made for preteens.  But the Polaroid Swinger was made for my generation.  At least that's what their commercial said with swinging sixties music and young people taking photos a party.  I just had to have one.  It was the number one item at the top of my Christmas wish list.

Opening it up Christmas morning was so exciting.  I put that first roll in film in the camera and proceeded to take some of the worst photos of all time.  It was a terrible camera.  You had to pull the photo out of the side of the camera.  Then you had to wait 60 seconds, then peel open the photo.  Then you had to apply a special chemical to the photo to protect it.  And the photos really weren't worth protecting.   But I never noticed that fact.  It was just too exciting to be able to see your photo 60 seconds after taking it.  I wasted a lot of allowance money on Polaroid Swinger film.   My Aunt Louise who bought me my first camera also thought it was fantastic and bought one for herself.

Mad Magazine had a spot on satire of the Polaroid Land Camera rage.  It was the 60 second disappointment.   Of course today we can be disappointed or delighted with our photographs in a matter of a second.  It's almost instantaneous disappointed or delight.  You can delete, edit, flip, and share your photos in a moment.  Some of the excitement of waiting is gone.  And now instead of enjoying places I am are visiting or taking time to talk with people on my photo adventure I am too busy taking a couple of hundred photos a day.  I don't get to really appreciate a lot of places I visit until I get home and look at the photos on my big screen television. It's the digital age.   Time to end this blog.  I feel the need to take a selfie.

Artists and Models

 I have never really given a lot of thought about being a good photographer.  It is just something I do for fun.  I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination.  I have never used quality equipment.  I have never studied photography in school.  However this morning I was taking some time to look through some of my old photos I have taken over the years and have decided that perhaps I should take my photography a little more seriously.

Photography has been a hobby of mine since childhood.  I got my first camera when I was nine years old.  My sister Shelley was my model when I took photos with that first camera.  I would take her out and pose her in bizarre places and take her photo.  I never thought much about it at the time but looking back now I realize that I did use some creative imagination in those old photos.  I remember taking this photo above by  putting Shelley down inside this old house foundation in our neighborhood and telling her to reach out like she was trying to crawl out of a pit.   Looking back now almost fifty years later I am impressed with the way this photo turned out.

This is a photo I took in 1963 of Shelley.  Something in my warped little head thought this would be a fun photo.  We had a little black puppy at the time whose name was Susie and she was behind Shelly in the photo.  But I didn't take the dogs photo.  I took one with the dog behind her making it look like Shelley was tied to the dog house.  Shelley never really questioned what I was doing or why I was doing it.  She was just always the willing model.  

Of course every photo was not creative or unusual.  Some were just photos of that I snapped on the moment like this one of Shelley with her doll carriage.  But still looking at it now I am finding it a much better photo than I had realized.   It does tell a story of sorts.  

This photo was taken of Shelley at Ocean City, Maryland.  It's not set up or posed.  But looking back it today I really like the way it turned out.  It's just a little girl on the beach looking down at her feet oblivious to everything around her.   And once again it does tend to tell a story of some sort.  

I am not sure who was more responsible for these photos me or Shelley.  I took the photos but she was the willing model.  Who is to say who the creative one really was?  

I still love to take photographs.  I always joke saying give me a 16 gig photo chip and somewhere on that chip you will find a good photo.  Perhaps I should have taken it all a little more seriously over the years.  Maybe I should have been a photographer.  But then it would have stopped being fun and become work.  

Chasing Elephants with Elsa Martinelli

I posted the photo above on my Facebook page while I was traveling in Bangkok, Thailand.  I received several comments with a quote from the song One Night In Bangkok.  Hey Larry, One night in Bangkok and the worlds your oyster.  I don't know if the world is my oyster or not.  But I do know that I love traveling and seeing the world from my own unique perspective.

Growing up travel was not a option for the average person.  Traveling to Paris was a once in a lifetime experience that people saved up for most of their lives.  The times were different.  Airline travel was a luxury for the wealthy.They wore their best clothes for the flight.  Gourmet food on real china was served to those fortunate enough to be able to afford to airfare

.  I remember watching the 1962 Walt Disney film "Bon Voyage" at the State Theater in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Fred MacMurray took his wife Jane Wyman and their children to Paris.  The didn't use an airline of course.  That kind of tourist travel still was not frequent.  The took a large ship to Paris.  I remember Fred and Jane talking about this being a trip of a life time for them.  They had saved for years for this one time experience.  I watched the movie with great envy.  I wanted to be with Kevin Corcoran while he led his father on a wild chase through the sewers of Paris.  I wanted to dance with Michael Callan and Deborah Walley on the left bank.  I was Kevin Corcoran's age but I really wanted to hang out with his older brother Tommy Kirk as he explored the streets of Paris all alone without his parents.  But most of all I wanted to see this wonderful city they were visiting and share in all of their misadventures.

1962 was a big year for movies for me.  It is also the year that James Bond was introduced to the movie audiences.  Dr. No was released in 1962.  And as a ten year old I sat back and was once more transported to foreign destinations that were far removed from any place I thought I would ever get to visit.

Traveling became a reality for me through the movies.  James Bond took me to many exotic and fascinating locations.  I followed Peter Ustinov and Melina Mercuri to the Topkapi Palace in the movie Topkapi.

 I followed John Wayne to the plains of Africa in Hatari and watched the baby elephants chase Elsa Martinelli  through the camp ground.

Going to movies truly did make the world my oyster.  And I never had to leave my seat at the State Theater.  For $.25 I got to see the world and fantasize about traveling and having wonderful adventures.I traveled with Elvis and Gidget to Hawaii. Then I once more went with Gidget.  This time to visit Rome. The movies were my travelogue.

  I remember my mother watching Doris Day in That Touch of Mink.  Doris lived in New York City and shared an apartment with Audrey Meadows.  I remember my Mom talking about wanting to actually see New York someday.  New York is only a three hour bus ride from Maryland but in 1962 that seemed such a great distance to my mother and she never did get  to New York.

I look back now and realize how fortunate I have been to have my world opened to me not just through the movies any longer, but through personal travel.  I have taken Bond, Gidget, Elvis and even Elsa Martinelli and her elephants with me.    The memories of their adventures stay vivid with me when I visit the locations from their movies. And now I return home with my own memories and travel stories to enhance those I remember from the movies.  I wish my Mom had gotten to New York.  I think she would have been happy that I got chase the baby elephants like Elsa Martinelli.