It’s not just #anythingcanhappen day, today is my birthday!
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
If there’s a chance that in 100 year’s time there will be just one person who will look at my work and be touched by it, then I must continue to create art for that person.—Yayoi Kusama.
I think that it’s somewhat fitting that I was born during what became known as National Photo Month, although I don’t think it was celebrated back then and doesn’t seem to be celebrated much these days either.
Many of you know that I have a website and blog about cars and car photography and for a time I sponsored a National Photo Month contest there. If I can get some kind of sponsorship, I may be able to afford to have a Nation Photo Month contest next year. Potential sponsors should contact me for details.
Time Marches On…
After passing through maturity and now into official geezerdom while hopefully acquiring wisdom that sometimes accompanies this passage, I have recently started thinking about my legacy, if there’s even a possibility of me actually having a legacy. As far as I can see into the future right now, I want to keep writing these posts, sharing more of the photography tips, tools and techniques that have served me well over the past so many years. Until I can’t…
I also plan to keep making videos for my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos. including the new series of Pixels, Grain & Cookies podcasts with my friend Barry Staver. You can see the latest one here. For movie fans, I uploaded my video review of the original 1954 Godzilla, that’s now available in 4K from the Criterion Collection, along with my takes on past home video versions of the film. I hope you have the time to visit my YouTube channel and take a look at my videos about digital photography, film photography and the movies.
Back in the Day
I am a member of the “Silent Generation” sometimes known as “Traditionalists” a group of people who preceded Baby Boomers. It’s consists of a population of roughly 23-50 million people in the U.S. I grew up in a time before television and McDonald’s. Space ships, computers and robots were the stuff of science fiction and I devoured sci-fi comic books and later the books of Issac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke as these things gradually became a reality. As an engineer, I started using main frame computers via punch card programming, then transitioned to time sharing via Teletype machines and was one of the first people I knew who owned a personal computer. Funny story: When I wen to my credit union to make a loan to buy an Apple II computer, they asked, “what do you need a computer for?” I always wanted to own one of Sony’s robot dogs, Aibo, but could never afford one. Humanoid robots that are currently all the rage, hold no interest for me.
Here’s a snapshot of me (at left) that was made during the Summer of 1955 while I was climbing the 898 steps inside the Washington Monument in DC with a genuine vinyl camera bag slung over my shoulder. Yup, I made it to the top!
The photograph was taken with my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and was made by my childhood friend Danny McKernan who made the climb with me. (We took the elevator back down.)
However old I may be today, I like to think that I’m still learning something new about photography and try to make, at least, one new picture every day. .
Learning something new about photography each day isn’t much of a problem because our wonderful profession and avocation of photography is constantly changing to let us have more fun with photography. And that’s my birthday wish for you— to Have fun with your photography!
You can help me celebrate my birthday by treating me to to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50) just click here.