Oldie from my dad

indiegirl

My dad (also a photog) is in the midst of scanning his first 20 years of negatives to digital. A huge project. Sometimes, he'll send me an image. It's like Christmas.



I love so much about this shot. They divorced shortly after but this was from a time when things were pretty calm. I love the dog from my childhood, Totem, whom I haven't seen in years. I love the b/w film cannister (top shelf, next to ashtray) and the Georgia O'Keefe book (on bottom shelf) on the little table. I love the cigarettes and pot pipe and cups of coffee. It was the 70's after all. I love that my mother looks young and healthy. She was 22 when this was taken. I love my father's artwork on the walls and the HUGE ugly dream catcher thing. I love the rocking chair. It had fake velvet cushions. They were green. I can still feel that berber carpet under my toes.

*Gulp* Photography is so amazing.

Mitchell

Really a wonderful image. Very evocative. Staring into your mother's eyes, I see some deep emotions. I also like the innocence in your face. Your narrative of the contents just puts this over the top.

Your Dad was/is a talented photographer. I like how he captured this scene, yet kept enough of the outdoors to give it a sense of location.

Albert Dickson

No real explanation needed. This is an amazing Documentary image. I too love everything about it. It evokes so much about the time and place and the people. there is about six chapters of story in this one image. I don't remember the last image I saw on this or any other forum with this much Power! I would love to add a print of this to my collection. If that is something your father would consider, please email me his terms. Seriously!

Albert Dickson

PS. Please, Please let me know where I can see more of your fathers work as it comes available.

Andee

Wow! Wish we all had childhood photos like this. Fantastic!!!! Thanks for sharing this!

lizzard_nyc

Love this and your explanation of the shot with the details.
Pot pipe and coffee

I have to say you don't look very happy. I had much the same look on many of my shots of childhood and they divorced right around the same time too, so this one really gets me.

Wonderful--Your mom has a wonderful look about her.

I would also like to request future postings of your dad's work.

sara505

Love it!

Yes, would that we all had photos like this from our childhoods.

A great reminder Re how to proceed Re photos for today's children:D

lizzard_nyc

sara505 wrote: »

Love it!

Yes, would that we all had photos like this from our childhoods.

A great reminder Re how to proceed Re photos for today's children:D

I agree, though I can't help but think that this wonderful shot would get trashed if posted today without the explanation. "crop the rocking chair out it's in the way, it's too cluttered, the plant leaves are too close to the child's face, the child doesn't look happy, remove the pot pipe, I wish there was fill light on the mom's left side of the face"--though it's all these things that make this shot special. I think too many times people get lost in the "technique". I'm very glad you posted this.

divamum

Lovely, Indiegirl! Your mom was so beautiful. And if I'm not mistaken your daughters sure look like you, don't they?!

The frank gaze from both of you is almost startling in its connection - do you remember what had been said, or if the shot was "set up" in any way? He caught an intensity that's quite extraordinary, even within the simple, ordinary, domestic setting.

Yup, photography IS amazing. This is also a timely reminder to me to hang on to more of my "not set up, not styled" shots as something that will be really meaningful to me in years to come (note to self: don't keep framing- or editing-out the household backgrounds...)

Btw, not sure if I've mentioned it elsewhere but I absolutely LOVE your logo - really captures your style, I think, and is just fun to look at!

indiegirl

Gabby G wrote: »

Wow! Wish we all had childhood photos like this. Fantastic!!!! Thanks for sharing this!

Word. I am really lucky. Now if I can just get him to speed up the archiving process and actually get the stuff to me.

indiegirl

Albert Dickson wrote: »

No real explanation needed. This is an amazing Documentary image. I too love everything about it. It evokes so much about the time and place and the people. there is about six chapters of story in this one image. I don't remember the last image I saw on this or any other forum with this much Power! I would love to add a print of this to my collection. If that is something your father would consider, please email me his terms. Seriously!

When I asked for the high-res scan, he had to call me and tell me that he wasn't happy with his process yet and that he'd send me something but it wasn't quite right and then he went on about the entire scanning process. He wants it just right, just like the rest of us...

I'll keep you updated.

indiegirl

divamum wrote: »

Lovely, Indiegirl! Your mom was so beautiful. And if I'm not mistaken your daughters sure look like you, don't they?!

The frank gaze from both of you is almost startling in its connection - do you remember what had been said, or if the shot was "set up" in any way? He caught an intensity that's quite extraordinary, even within the simple, ordinary, domestic setting.

Yup, photography IS amazing. This is also a timely reminder to me to hang on to more of my "not set up, not styled" shots as something that will be really meaningful to me in years to come (note to self: don't keep framing- or editing-out the household backgrounds...)

Btw, not sure if I've mentioned it elsewhere but I absolutely LOVE your logo - really captures your style, I think, and is just fun to look at!

Yes, two of my girls look a lot like me.


The third girl looks like my husband's mother:


Regarding the shot: I don't remember much about it. I do know that my dad wouldn't have stopped us or set it up. There are two coffee cups there, I think he was probably drinking coffee and sitting in that rocking chair before taking the shot.

Within two years they would be divorced and I would be on my way home from a year separation. CPS was involved and I wouldn't see my mother again until I was 14. I am my father's daughter in more ways than photography...

This picture is semi-heartbreaking to me because it captures a time when she was beautiful and PRESENT. This was nearly the last time I had a mother in the traditional sense. It's like taking your one life issue and distilling it into one, solitary frame. Family, work, identity, passion. And a big, huge dream catcher.

thanks for the kind words about the logo. I do, too! It's because I didn't design it!

divamum

Sorry to hear about the troubled years - that did come across in your initial description (and hope I didn't hit any nerves with my comments) and it certainly does add to the poignancy of the photo (your response has me sitting here all choked up, since my dad weathered similar trauma in his own childhood, something I didn't even know until quite recently). But even if I didn't know the circumstances you describe, there's something in the intense, almost sombre, direct gaze of you and your mother that speaks volumes. Your dad is a very "brave" photographer, if that makes sense; he's seeing far beyond the actual aesthetic into something else much, much bigger (as do all of the greatest artists, in any medium). I too would love to see more of his work.

And yeah, your one daughter (upper right - is that your oldest?) is your CLONE. As mom to a "mini-me" I know the feeling!

Z6I

The feel is so "Westonish" to me. OK, it's the 70's but my goodness it is beautiful!!

Ed911

We all wish we could capture this kind of emotion...the feeling...it just grabs you from the moment that you first see it...it makes you feel like you have been dropped into the middle of their lives...and that's where we want to be as a photographer...the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.

Thanks so much for sharing.