On the 103rd anniversary of his birth – March 7, 1914
On the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn ca. 1921. My dad’s dad drove a milk wagon delivering milk in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. My dad grew up around horses and continued that trend while assigned to a CCC camp at Ft. Dix, New Jersey just before WWII.
U.S. Army ca. 1943. Military Policeman assigned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
His favorite camera. Purchased new in 1953.
Remembering a great man on the day of his birth. Forever missed.
Chris
An unusual topic, but since I had recently scanned these images from one of my mom’s photo albums I felt I should do something with them. I can’t bring myself to simply just throw pictures away – as a photographer it doesn’t seem right. But why was I using up valuable(?) storage space on my PC for strangers? Well for one they did know my mom and were her friends and were important in her life. So, why not share them with you all – like facebook only the 1939 version.
What strikes me the most is just how similar these images are from 78 years ago to the images you see posted on social media today. Young 20-somethings goofing around in front of a camera and having fun together. Photography is a universal language that we all speak and understand and the people captured in the images “live” forever on film and in our minds.
All images are taken in and around New York City – except for a few, my mom was the photographer and shooting with her Kodak.
One of my favorites… she looks just so bored!
My mom and her best friend (my mom on right). I just love this image!
My mom second from left.
5th Avenue Fashionistas! My mom is the lovely lady on the far right!
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
I realized that we haven’t posted an image of the two of us (from this century anyway), so we picked this one. We don’t normally run around taking selfies (nothing against them) so we don’t have a large image pool to draw from. We like this one the best. Attending a spring training game for the New York Mets in St. Lucie West (Florida). They have an awesome field and outstanding facilities there. If you get the chance to catch a spring training game then do so. You’re always close to the action and get to see pretty much everyone on the team. The Mets play at Tradition Field.
The lighthouse at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York is one of my favorite spots to visit ever since I was a child growing up on Long Island. As a kid, the main attractions for me were – the ocean, the countless rocks in that ocean (big and small), the hills (Long Islanders are hill challenged) and finally the lighthouse itself. As I got older, the main attraction was the lighthouse with the other ‘likes’ fading into the background. When I earned my New York driver’s licence, Montauk was my first long drive from my home by myself. When I became a certified SCUBA diver, the waters near the lighthouse looked tempting for a dive but the great whites known to frequent the cold waters off Eastern Long Island kept me ashore – so I headed to Florida instead.
While going through some of my many mountains of slides from my collection, I came across these images of the lighthouse. The first set of photographs are from August 1972 and were shot with my Yashica TL Electro-X mostly using the normal Yashinon 50mm lens. The second set of images are from 2002 when I traveled to New York with my family for their first visit to Montauk. The 1972 images show how completely the original Kodak Ektachrome slides have degraded over the years.
August 1972. Yashica TL Electro-X with f/ 1.7 50mm Yashinon lens with 2x teleconverter on Ektachrome 64.
August 1972. The lighthouse in need of a serious restoration. I believe it was still under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard at that time. It’s obvious that 40+ year old Kodak Ektachrome didn’t hold up well – even when stored properly. Most of the vivid original colors have faded and the slide lacks depth.
July 2002. The lighthouse and grounds were looking much better after the restoration. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome. My son is the little one climbing up the hill (as I had done hundreds of times before).
July 2002. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome.
T.J. on the rocks… just like me in the 1950s.
The automated light of 2002. Wonderful view from up top too.
Captivating views from up top.
Gotta love the rocks!
If you ever get a chance to travel to Long Island, then the Montauk Point Lighthouse must be on your “to visit list”. It’s very photogenic and lends itself well to the digital age. There are images that a good camera phone today can capture that were a serious challenge to film photographers just 15 years ago. Happy shooting!
Chris
I’ve always been a fan of Kodak film. Living in the United States it was hard to find anything else to buy at the corner stores – even in New York. Every now and again I’d pick up a roll of Fujifilm and was always impressed with the results. I’ve always liked the little green boxes too… they catch my eye.
While our main collecting focus has been Yashima-Yashica cameras and gear, there’s always been a little offshoot into the world of Fuji. Partly because we lived in Japan – Yokohama to be exact, and Fujifilm was more available and there were labs nearby to process the film. Kodak processing was via handy but slow mail back to Palo Alto, California if I remember correctly.
So on this end of the week Friday, we thought a little Fujicolor was in order.
We’re thinking of a color. Can you guess?
The 12 exposure Fujicolor 100 rolls are all expired (2010) but they usually produce good results if you treat them like they’re ASA50. The Acros 100 is a fresh roll and you can’t beat it for good looking black and white prints. The little XP100 is our go to all weather camera. It has a bright screen (for the beach) and is great in the surf for some wave pics. 1080p video and stereo sound too.
We’ve added a nice Fujica ST701 and Fujipet to our collection but I think were done. Oh, I almost forgot – my primary digital camera is a Fujifilm FinePix S9900W so that’s another Fuji. Oh and I bought my daughter a Fujifilm XP too. Okay, but that’s it. No more Fuji Photo Film Company cameras for us die hard Yashica fans. Well except for a nice Fujicaflex TLR, and the Fuji Photo GS6x9 sure looks great. I’d better stop now!
Thanks for your visit! Comments and likes are always appreciated.
Chris & Carol
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 