My Uncle Irving Skipper took our wedding photographs and of course we have copies in our album. But this image was scanned from an 8x10 inch copy he had. He died a year ago and we are sorting and scanning old family photographs from his collection dating back a hundred years.
This self-portrait was taken in a rooming house during the second semester of my second year at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. It was taken with a simple all manual control range-finder focused Kodak Signet 35mm camera that I had received from my Uncle Irving and Aunt Nila Skipper for graduation from high school. This was a hand-held photo; I did not have a tripod. The exposure was estimated. I don't remember whether I took a few 'bracketed' shots or not. The camera was stolen the next year.
When Ann and I got married neither of us had a camera; we had to rent one on our honeymoon. Most of these early family photos were taken with a used Polaroid camera I bought for $50, which was a lot in 1962. Only B
&
W film was available, but a 1000 ASA film speed was available. The camera was all manual. I think this portrait of Ann is a good example of ‘content’ superseding technical ‘flash’.
Add-on close up lenses made this and the next photo possible. That 1000 speed allowed photography with available light.
Our first son, Jimy, was born in 1963. This is a deliberate effort to recreate the old family portrait look. It was taken in the garage of the new home Ann’s parents had just moved into.
My thanks to Jackie at
Wolf Tracks
for the nice frame and sepia toning.
Jimy at a year and a half. We had moved to Houston, Texas, by then.
Our second son, Louis, was born in 1964. This photo was taken at my sister’s home when Louis was one and a half.
Our third son, John, was born in 1968. This photo of John and Becky in 1972 was also taken with the large format Polaroid. Scanning the Polaroids is my first priority. Prints for which I have negatives and color slides will come later. During the time when this picture was made, we often went out to lunch after church on Sundays. One Sunday Becky really wanted to go out to lunch and when we turned toward home instead, her little voice from the back of the car said, "Old troll!"
This little troll dates back to 1962. They were first popular then; it had some special meaning. It was a technical feat to get an available light, manual exposure, manual focus, non-parallax corrected view finder, add-on close-up lens shot like this on the first try. Polaroid film was 50 cents a shot and that was high back then.
My thanks to Jackie at
Wolf Tracks
for the nice frame around the Troll picture.
