When I was a Junior in High School I flunked Chemistry, despite giving up my Study Hall, attending the chemistry lecture twice a day and doing two hours of homework each evening. My teacher, Mrs. Gladys Heron taught a photography class as well as Chemistry and was kind enough to let me take her photography class in the Spring semester. My failing was a result of my being poor at math and the Algebra in the Chem class did me in .
I learned photography with a 1930’s 120 film folding camera that the school had. This was in 1956.
When I returned for my senior year Mrs. Heron sent me a note to see the yearbook instructor.
“Douglas, I have signed you up to be the Yearbook photographer “.
This changed my life.
I wandered around Klamath High Union School in Klamath Falls ,Oregon with a 4X5 Crown Graphic camera, film holders and flashbulbs to the point that I flunked out of my typing class where I learned to type fifteen words a minute with errors.
This was back in the days that the Draft was in effect and Uncle Sam was owed a two year stint of military service after graduating High School. I joined the U.S Navy Reserve in the Spring of my Junior year ,attending weekly meetings . On graduation I was called to active duty for a two year stint.
The Navy offered an advanced class for those signing up for an additional year. I was offered a choice of three classes. Photography, Parashoot Rigger or Aerial Gunners mate with NO GUARANTEE which one. I declined the offer saying I’d get my photography training at college when I finished my active duty.
That was over sixty years ago and I am retired after ten years as a newspaper and wire service photographer and, fifty as a freelance magazine and corporate -industrial photographer having been published in over a hundred editorial titles and worked for many Fortune 500 corporations
PHRubin wrote:
Back in 1976 I was engaged and was planning a 6 week cross country drive for our honeymoon. I had always tended to like taking pictures. I wanted something better than my Polaroid. I got a Minolta SRT 100 with a 50 mm lens. I was fortunate in that when I was at the Hoover Dam, I was next to a guy who let me borrow his 17 mm wide angle. It is not distortion, the tower on the upper left is at a 45° angle. This photo is scanned from a 4 X 6 print.
have you see it lately they did alot of work to it now DelRae
What a fascinating story Seabastes. Thanks for sharing
peterjoseph wrote:
I would like to share the motivating reason of buying my first camera.
In 1965 I was a 14 year old in school and a classmate brought a nice looking camera to school. I requested him to allow me to hold it and get a feel. In short he told me to Get Lost.I decided at that moment to buy my own camera asap.
Six years later I got my first stipend in a company .I used almost the entire stipend and bought a Agfa click 3 camera which used 120 film.I got it devloped and printed from a studio close by.He charged me a bomb.A few more stipends and I bought the All in one Camera book by W D Emanuel ,a developing tank,trays , contact printer,developer ,fixer etc and I could expose the film and make prints at home.
It was fun then and still is today.
It would be nice to hear from you how you started this beautiful hobby or business
Peter
I would like to share the motivating reason of buy... (
show quote)
For some time, I had been using my father's Brownie Hawkeye and was satisfied with that. But... One day I was walking down Kensington Ave in Philadelphia and happened to see a new camera in a shop window. It was a Kodak Instamatic. In I went and asked them if I could put one on layaway. Instead of layaway, the clerk handed me a plastic Instamatic replica that served as a bank! I loved that camera and the bank model. The one I bought used flashcubes. Sadly, a house fire took care of most of my childhood things.
As an adult, I have purchased a Hawkeye with flash attachment and an Instamatic, but this one has an ungainly pop-up thing. Not as cool.
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