Around town, they called him King. He was the only son of Louis Tyler, owner of a popular downtown store who served as mayor and played a silver coronet. The King was handsome. He had an air of smug certainty that life would go his way. It’s a photo I’d never seen before, a young man … read more The King
Tag: photography
Through the lens
In the midst of the reunion, my cousin Gary pulled me aside. “I have something for you,” he said. “Is now a good time?” I hadn’t seen Gary more than a couple times in the past 45 years. I couldn’t imagine what he could have brought from Arizona for me, or why we needed to … read more Through the lens
Someone else’s memories
By accident, I just found online seven photos of Dad from World War II that I didn’t even know existed. The caption for the featured photo above is “Burtonwood – Flying control personnel – 1 May 1943 Cpl Schnellinger, ‘Nice chap’.” Yep, my dad really was a nice chap. Everyone who knew him would have said that. … read more Someone else’s memories
Farm boys at the airfield
When Dad was 22, he had never been on an airplane or been anywhere but Ohio. He was a farm boy before World War II. He was processed through Dayton at Wright-Patterson with thousands of other farm boys, and I guess that’s where he got a few days of training to be an air traffic controller. Then he … read more Farm boys at the airfield
The stealthy view
My neighbors were getting the coolest nighttime photos – bobcats, bears, foxes, and even a mountain lion! OK, the alleged mountain lion was ultimately determined to be a house cat, but still. It was pretty exciting for awhile there. So I bought a Stealth Cam, and set it up on the front porch with great anticipation. … read more The stealthy view
In black and white
The other day, an old friend who’s a photojournalist complimented me on my Facebook profile photo. “Black and white is very cool,” he said. He and I both learned photography with black and white film cameras. But it’s not just nostalgia that makes us love B/W. It is a different art form altogether, when color … read more In black and white
Overcooked
What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing, according to lots of people who saw it on the Facebook page of Robert Elzey. They called this and similar photos that he shot in a local garden “gorgeous” and “beautiful” and “vivid.” I’d call it overcooked. This was apparent even to a non-photographer, who said, “I don’t like the color … read more Overcooked
Dying beauty
When I got up this morning, all four of them were nearly dead. I was thrilled. Death has never been a taboo subject for me. In photography, I love shooting dead and dying things – old buildings, insects, cemeteries, birds, racoons. Last week I got this beautiful amaryllis as a gift. It was in full bloom. … read more Dying beauty
One cold February day
She jerked. She stuttered. She stopped. “Anna Mae! What is it?” I cried, giving her a whack. She got going again, just a little ways, then stopped again. “Damn it!” A cold day in mid-February, I’m way up the side of the mountain. I came here excited about spending the afternoon to take photos of … read more One cold February day
Germans, maybe
The image above comes with this caption: Typical group of Gary, Indiana school children. Top row standing : left to right, Greek, Negro, Roumanian, Lithuanian, Italian, Polish, Croatian, Hungarian. Middle row, American, Austrian, German, Bulgarian, front row, Scotch, Russian, Irish, Assyrian, Slavish, Jewish and Spanish. Do these children look American? The people in the photo above were … read more Germans, maybe