With the eclipse on our minds this week, it got me thinking about the first one I photographed – Thirty Years ago, May 10th, 1994. Taken on film, I have prints of it in albums, but I hoped to find the negative. My son and I spent Wednesday night going through a bin where I kept all my negatives—thousands from the 80s to the early 2000s. We had fun going through all the old pictures/negatives. I found the one I wanted right at the bottom of the box. I photographed a few dozen negatives today, making them digital. I will be sharing more here as I process them, the 1994 Eclipse is first.

The most significant discovery of the search was not any images – it was the dates. 1993/1994 I took a step up, I stopped taking photos and started my path to photographer. The eclipse photo comes into play in that transition. It ended up being my first displayed and sold photo. I was working at a one-hour photo lab in Medway, which I would buy a few years later. We were all out front of the store looking at the eclipse – we did not have any glasses, we were using pin boxes and film strips, and there were a bunch of clouds filtering the light. A kid showed up on a bike wearing his Dad’s welding helmet. I borrowed it, held it in front of the camera, and took four photos. I developed the film and got these shots. I was so happy with them. The owner let me display the best one in the store. Later that day, a waitress who worked in the plaza saw it and asked to buy it.

I was just happy to have it displayed, and now it could be sold. This was huge! She asked how much for the 5×7 print. I remember struggling with the price. I had no clue what to say. I would have given it to her for free, just for liking it. My friends at the shop said I should say $20; I ended up telling her $15… and that’s when I was floored. “$15, wow, that’s steep… I guess that’s what starving artists do, try to get as much money as they can.” She was serious, she ended up buying it, but made sure I knew I had “sold it for too high of a price”. It has been thirty years, and that transaction still lives in my mind. Welcome to trying to make a living as an artist. It is still one of my favorite photos and lessons. I will always do what I can to get the photo and know value is a term without definition. As true today as it was thirty years back. And you can get an 8×10 of this week’s eclipse for $40 because I guess I am still a starving artist.

tr/trp

There is a lot going on here, I recently got an old One Step Polaroid Camera, I found a company making black and white – Impossible, with a black border, I bought used welding helmet and added lights to the inside of it…. here is the first use of the camera, film, mask and lights. More to come.

tr/trp