Journalism Archives

May 24, 2013March 2, 2021

Ford Maverick – $1995*

These guys were ready to sell you ‘the first car of the 1970s at 1960 prices.” Step right up and drive off with a Ford Maverick for $1995. There’s an asterisk after the $1995, so that’s probably where they tell you that the tires, engine, steering wheel and seats are extra.

Are car salesmen born or made?

I hated shooting advertising photos. Partially because you ended up having to take hokey shots like this; partially because the next time you ran into them at a news event, they thought they still owned you. It gave me a great deal of pleasure to disabuse them of that idea.

These were taken for The Athens Messenger in April 1969. Based on the expression, these guys didn’t seem to think there was anything unusual about pretending to be roped cowboys (I’m not sure I understand that symbolism). I guess they figured anything goes so long as they met their quota.

Cape car dealer ads

Here are some Cape car ads that ran in the 1956 Sesquicentennial booklet. I think one of the most curious slogans was in the Clark Buick ad: “We will deal until we deal.” They must have offered a pretty good deal to get Dad to buy our 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon from them. Whoever did the Goodwin Motor Co. ad didn’t quite know the difference between the “roll” and the “role” of a Mercury-Lincoln dealer (it “is of ever increasing importance to Cape Girardeau”).

If you want to read about the early days of automobiles in Cape, follow this link. Here’s a piece on “Rusty” and Rueseler Chevrolet.

Click on any image to make it larger, then click the sides to move through the gallery.

May 20, 2013

Tips for Shooting Quickly

This picture has “brothers” written all over it. It happened to have been taken in Athens, Ohio, in 1969, but a similar one could be taken anywhere in the world.

So, how do you take a picture like this? I don’t remember doing it. It was a single frame sandwiched between a scenic of a tree and interior of a house. The scenic tells me that I was cruising around looking for wild art before or after the interior assignment.

My guess is that I was standing on the back porch talking with the homeowner when the kids started going at it. I had time to get that one picture before mom or dad broke up the scuffle.

To be ready for quick shooting, I always had at least one camera body set to shoot for different lighting situations. That might mean one would be set for bright daylight and another for low level lights. When you have to shoot fast, you don’t have time to take light readings and fumble with shutter speeds and f/stops. You grab the appropriate body, shoot and hope your exposure is close enough to fix in the darkroom.

Tight or loose?

I like the looser composition of this shot that hasn’t been cropped much because it gives the feeling that the kids are going at it unsupervised The tight shot feels like an adult is hovering.

Why did I emphasize the tight shot, then?

Newspaper rule of thumb was that a face had to be the size of a dime if you were going to be able to see detail in it. The cropped photo is the one that would have run; reader eyeballs don’t linger long, so you want to get your message across quickly.

Even this shot is cropped in from the left a little. The original shows a tricycle parked at the bottom of the steps on the left.

In addition to making the faces larger, there was another consideration: the boys are in the shade and a white house in the background is in bright sunlight. That’s a killer wide range of exposures to try to balance in a photo. Taking the background out meant less distracting blown-out highlights.

May 4, 2013

The Road Not Taken

When I wasn’t shooting assignments, I was usually cruising around looking for interesting people, places and situations. I thought this farmstead in southern Ohio interesting enough to pull over for a quick photo.

There was a curious mix of vintage cars, VW bugs and a VW bus in front of the old farmhouse, barn and outbuildings. It wasn’t unusual to be greeted by barking dogs, but these guys seemed to be a little more unfriendly than most. The barking dog on the left didn’t worry me as much as the guy just peeking over the rise on the right. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

I hate little yip-yip dogs

I’ve managed to make it into Medicare age having been bit only twice in my life: once when I was a paperboy and once by a neighbor’s dog down here in Florida. In both cases, the culprit was one of those annoying little yip-yip dogs that are like rats with an attitude – and just about as useful.

This guy, though, didn’t look like he would fool around. I decided to leave this a road not taken. I wondered what was down that lane that warranted this much protection. My first thought was moonshine, but the VWs made me lean toward illegal herbs.

Or, it might just be they valued their privacy and didn’t want any visits from the Avon Lady.

May 4, 2013May 30, 2021

How Soon They Forget

Today is May 4. I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t hear from my old chief photographer, John J. Lopinot, today. He always sends me a message on May 4 that says, simply, “Never forget.” He’s referring to the killing of four students at Kent State on that date in 1970.

I’ve published pictures of the protest era over the years and am working on putting together a photo exhibit for May 2014.

While I was killing time before speaking at a photo exhibit of my Martin Lutheran King National Day of Mourning pictures, I wandered around the Ohio University’s Main Green, feeling a lot like the old geezer in Catcher in the Rye who went back to his old school to see if his initials were still carved in a bathroom stall.

When I stood in front of Lindley Hall, a dorm on Court Street, I had a flashback to 1970.

May 15, 1970

After two nights of tear gas and rioting, Ohio University closed and students scrambled to get home.

Anxious parents descend on town

Frantic parents clogged all the streets in town trying to pick up their students. Every breeze would cause tear gas powder to rain down from the trees, causing red eyes for blocks. National guardsmen, some with bayonets affixed were spaced all over the downtown and campus area.

Incredible wave of emotion

I climbed to the landing where I had taken the photo above and felt an incredible rush of emotion. I was transported back to that time. I can’t explain why that particular location triggered the feeling.

Did something happen here?

While I was coping with that and composing this photo, two coeds ran squealing down the street and jumped on the back of a male student. There was much high-fiving and quite a reunion going on. Finally one of them saw me with a camera and gave me a friendly wave. I returned the wave and walked down to them.

“You know, the last time I stood on that landing and took a picture looking down Court Street it was May 15, 1970. Tear gas was wafting through the air and there was a National Guardsman with a rifle spaced about every 25 feet.”

“Really? Something happened here?” one of them asked, giving me a “is this old geezer harmless?” look..

If I don’t get the message from John, I guess it’s a sign that we really have forgotten.

My initials were gone

I didn’t carve my initials on the wall of a bathroom stall, but it was a tradition for the photo editor of The OU Post to put his (they had all been male up to that point) initials on the darkroom door. The white arrow, top left, points to my “KLS 68“. I was killing time waiting for that night’s demonstration or other madness to start when this picture was taken in 1970.

Baker Center, where The Post lived, is being remodeled and the basement where my initials were scrawled has been gutted no telling how many times over the years. That’s the way it goes.