Please tell me that the fish was in exchange for the very first photograph you ever "sold"!
That would make it the perfect story (not that such a thing exists <g>).
I truly enjoyed your recollection, Shel.
cheers, frank
"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
From: Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Photography: Fun or Profit???? Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 23:11:59 -0800
This bit of discussion reminded me of a very profitable and very fun instance in the
summer of 1968, when I was just getting started in photography.
At the time I had very little money, and was living in a storefront in San
Francisco. The storefront had a big darkroom in back, and, downstairs, in the
"bargain basement" as we called it, a couple of home built drying cabinets for
negatives.
In those days I'd be up early, and start wandering through the city, a "flâneur"
photographer, looking for things to photograph. On this one particular day I was
walking down Mission Street, a big shopping area at the time, which was filled with
restaurants, shoe stores, butchers, poultry markets, five-and-dime stores, radio
repair shops, and the like. You know the kind of street I'm describing. Anyway, I
walked by a fish monger, and there, in the window, standing ankle deep in ice,
wearing high, rubber boots and white aprons, were the two owners of the shop holding
a fish that was about six feet long. It took the two of them to hold it, and they
were standing side-by-side in the window, facing the street. They were going to
place the fish on the ice for display. The timing was right, and I snapped a quick
exposure while they were looking right at me, smiling, holding this fish, and
looking like they just stepped off the boat. You could almost smell the sea in that
1/125 of a second.
I stuck my head in the shop and told them that I'd return with a print for them, and
later that day I delivered a nice 11 x 14 printed on Agfa Brovira (some of you will
understand - vbg).
They were quite pleased, and asked me to wait a moment as they had something for
me. In a few minutes one of the guys returned with a big package, and told me to
enjoy dinner. When I got back to the studio I opened the wrapping paper, and there
were a couple of nice, fresh crabs, some shrimp, and some halibut. I called my
girlfriend and she brought some salad fixin's and a bottle of crisp, white wine, and
that evening, sitting on boxes and with a box for a table, we had a wonderful dinner
by candle light.
That was one of the best days I ever had making photographs.
Shel
Boris Liberman wrote:
> Hi!
>
> ft> But, you know what? As much fun as I get from it, I think it goes way
> ft> deeper than that for me. I'm going to sound all stupid and pretentious now,
> ft> but you know what? Photography is my form of self-expression. So over the
> ft> last number of years, it goes way beyond fun. It's almost (but not quite)
> ft> an obsession. I no longer carry a camera because it's fun, but because I
> ft> have to. Not in a weird sort of "I'd panic if I ever left the house without
> ft> my camera" sort of way, but in a "I get a lot of self-fulfillment by
> ft> recording some of the world around me" sort of way.
>
> No, you did not sound "all stupid and pretentious"... Not that I have
> to take my camera with me always, but almost always on weekends...
>
> Sometimes, I feel like you do. Not too often, but sometimes I do.
>
> I must say that my previous serious hobby was PDAs. It lasted some 4
> years or so and I was very good in knowing why one OS is better than
> some other OS given some conditions. Also I got some good friends
> through some web-communities.
>
> But then I kind of returned to photography and, man, I feel
> wonderful...
>
> So if they start throwing whatever it is customary to throw in such a
> case, they'd have two targets <g>...
>
> Cheers!
>
> P.S. Thumbs up to J.C. for starting this thread.
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