The Photography Begins
August 28, 2024, My first blog post, EVER. It’s not that I had nothing to say, I always have something to say, just that now it’s about a quest. Follow along as I take you on my journey into the world of photography. Please be patient with me as I borrow phrases from great masters of this art, some from many days ago and others from maybe just a few days ago. But to me they all made sense.
To start, well what better place than the beginning. 1964 NY Worlds Fair Queens, NY. with two of my friends, BEST friends and lifelong friends regardless of the miles between us. Stan who I know since age five and Marty, since my being 18 the days of Ember House (another long story, maybe another day). We three took a day and visited the Fair. Only Marty, brought a camera, probably only Marty had a camera other than a Brownie Hawkeye. As we entered Marty stopped and took some shots of the Sphere which was the centerpiece of the fair.
While Marty is shooting I hear the sound of the shutter. I’m drawn to it as a moth to a lit candle. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know of or hear about 35 mm cameras, I just got up close and personal with one. My curiosity forces me to ask, “Can I try?” Marty removes the camera strap from his neck puts it around mine, and shows me two basic functions, turn this to focus and press this to shoot. Then he says, “The next roll you buy.” I just turn and smile. The rest is just another story of romance, one that I am sure we all know in our own way.
Fast forward to the early 70s and I’m working in the garment center (If you’re not my age, this may just as well be a foreign destination for you, BUT it was a world unto itself). I am befriended by a co-worker, Alex. Alex is a photographer outside of his day job. during our friendship, the camera and photography become the daily topic of conversation. It is through his knowledge that I was introduced to my first 35 mm camera, a Pentaflex. His reason for liking this German import was changeable lenses, with a better camera, a Pentax.
Camera in hand Alex and I spend a day shooting in Central Park, and this fascination takes me to a bathroom darkroom, by putting the ironing board in the tub and balancing the enlarger on the toilet is a start. The real magic was made there when the return of the scent of developer returns to my nostrils. Awaken memories of my past as a member of the YMCA in Brooklyn.
It all comes together for me from the Y to the fair to the garment center my travels with camera. It wasn’t until the late 80s for me to see that it could be more for me than just a device to amuse myself with and maybe even amuse my friends. It was then that I was led to see it as an art form. And now it is an integral part of my life.
You can see my work at: PORTFOLIOS
Art-in-photography.com/memoir 
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