Story Imager

This is one of the first photos I ever took with a 35mm camera. Up until I bought this camera I had only used point-and-shoot – Kodak Instamatics and the like. I’d never used a camera that allowed for the immense creativity of focus, aperture and shutter settings. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just sitting on grandmother’s porch taking photos of my nephew, Jeremy, playing with soap bubbles. It may be the best photo I’ve ever taken. I still have lots more to take so the jury is still out on that.

I bought a 35mm camera to take on a trip to Hawaii with my grandmother in 1982. We had a wonderful time and I have lots of great photos of that trip, including some special photos of her and me together. 

For some reason I’ve always thought that the soap bubble photo was the beginning of my love affair with photography. As I started writing this blog I realized it started way before that. My grandfather (on my mom’s side) was always taking home movies and my parents were always taking Polaroid photos of me and my sister when we were kids. This was when you had to manually pull the film out of the big, bulky Polaroid camera, wait for it to develop, peel it off the backing paper and then swipe it with this chemical stick (that was our job) so the photo wouldn’t fade. Home movies were on 8mm film that had to be sent out to be processed and then played on a projector. A far cry from the instant gratification of photography and video now.

I think it was our grandfather who gave us our first cameras. He was always into “gadgets” and Kodak started mass marketing easy to load 125mm and 110mm cameras with cartridges that made it, more or less, foolproof for anyone to take photos. We were probably about 7 years old at the time. When we spent weekends at their house we would do chores– raking leaves (they had a huge magnolia tree in their front yard. I hated those leaves) and doing dishes to earn money to pay for the film and developing the pictures. We documented our trips with them, Arizona, Mesa Verde, Marineland. Cameras then (for us) were only for special occasions, like vacations. I probably still have those cameras packed away somewhere in my sister’s garage.

As I got older I became the the person who documents family events. I took photos at family gatherings and special events. I was the photographer at both of my sister’s weddings – the first one at home, the second one in a church.

I probably missed some of the traditional photos you’re supposed to do at a wedding (because I didn’t know any better) but it was my gift to my sister and her husband. I took behind-the-scenes photos at friends’ weddings – the stuff the professional photographer misses because they’re doing the “official” stuff. When I was in my 20s I drove my mom up to Petaluma for the wedding of her best friend’s son. In one of the photos I got during the wedding the bride had her hand on the groom’s butt. His parents LOVED that photo.

In the 80s my grandfather wanted to learn photography so we took a class together at Valley College. I thought it would give us something in common and bridge a divide that had grown between us. It didn’t. That was when I learned to love the Dark Room. I loved putting on my headphones, cranking up the music, developing film and printing photos. Funny thing, our instructor, a wedding photographer, HATED darkroom work. He enjoyed taking the photos and had an assistant for the boring (to him) work. I think that was when I started taking more photos of things, rather than people. I captured the play of light and shadow, of texture and line. I had a Disneyland Annual Passport at the time and would frequently go there just to spend the day taking photos of the plants and architecture. 

I’ve also chronicled the growing up stages of my sister’s kids. Around the time the boys became teenagers they pretty much left the room if I had a camera in hand. They indulge me now from time to time. 

For some reason people give me cameras. I don’t know where they got the idea that I COLLECT cameras, but I have the beginnings of quite a collection now.  

 There are several cameras missing from this photo – my Instamatic cameras that are packed away, two cameras that were stolen from my apartment back in the 80s and I was given a 60s Polariod Land Camera that isn't in the photo.

When digital cameras came along it was a revolution. I was FREE! Free to shoot whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and didn’t have to wait until I had the money to buy or develop the film. I was free to experiment and if it didn’t work out I could just delete the photo - no wasted paper, film or chemicals! I was able to blog my unexpected, strange and fun trip to New York in 2010 (check the blog archives for more photos).

I could shoot all the funny, quirky things I saw as well as document my adventure in The Big Apple. In the evenings I would come back to the house I was staying in and post my photos, chronicling my day’s adventures.

For years now I’ve been shooting photos at events at work, at events for non-profit organizations of which I am a part – PPLA, The Hollywood Arts Council, The Burbank Chorale. Often the photos make their way onto Social Media, company/organization brochures and newsletters. Photography is as much a part of what sustains my life now as breathing is.

Earlier this year, I shared my adventures in Ireland with my family and friends back home (see May/June 2018 archives for more photos). I captured my generous host, Jane, without whom the adventure would not have even been possible plus beautiful vistas and cute shops and shared my days with people who were far away. I have wonderful memories of that brief time in an enchanted land.

Recently I started The Well of Images, a personal brand photography business. So far I’ve worked with an herbalist, a Hollywood Psychic, and a composer. I am thoroughly enjoying shooting personalized photos for people to use on social media and their websites that reflects their specific business, brand and personality. In so many cases small businesses are in a niche market that Stock Photography doesn’t serve well and these people love having a folder of images that are specific to what they’re blogging or writing about right at their fingertips and they don’t have to search the web for something that will “do” just so they can have an image to go with their post.They also love the ability to edit the photos (make memes, add text, crop, etc.).

I’m building this new venture into a business that will support me after I’m forced to retire or if circumstances require that I leave California for a while. It will be portable so I can do it from any base of operation. I never guessed that my hobby would become a business that I love. I never imagined that my witnessing of my family’s journey through life was training me for this.

I’m a Story Imager. I am a witness.