Monday, October 20, 2008

PASSAGES 2


Richard Greffe, Frank Armstrong, Roy Flukinger

Black Canyon Campground, Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico

11 June 1983

This is so much a passage image for me (center). Shortly after making this image, and the Polariods we're holding (crisp mountain air and beer will do that to you), I headed up to the phone of the porch of the store at the Hyde State Park. I called Ellen and that's when she told me the news that she had accepted the job as director of the Rosenback Museum and Library in Philadelphia. We would be moving from Austin to Philly that coming September. Except for a brief stay in the Navy, I had never lived anywhere but Texas.

9 comments:

Billie Mercer said...

Frank I saw Roy at the TPS print auction. He is a little grayer. But still the same good guy.

Libbie said...

Who's vehicles are those? Is that your old truck? I've never seen that trailer before but I've never seen a picture of your old trailer. Hmmmmmmmm.

pitchertaker said...

Yes, and yes. That was our first trailer. You lived in that trailer while I finished the house in
Austin before moving to Philly in '83. That was the gray Blazer that I sold to the guy at the hardware store in Mt. Laurel. That shake any cobwebs out?

P'taker/Dad

FirstPersonArts said...

Wow, I'd have been 8 that summer. I camped with my family in Black Canyon Campground that summer and for parts of summers on either side. We were out of El Paso.

pitchertaker said...

Andrew: I've spent any number of nights in that campground, and many early morning walks for several miles back into Black Canyon and surrounding areas with a view camera on my back. Haven't stayed there since my brother moved to Santa Fe in the mid-90's, still drive the ski road every time I'm in the area -- great aspen vistas. How'd you come across my blog?

P'taker

FirstPersonArts said...

I think I found it through a Google alert for "documentary photography" while promoting First Person Arts' Impressions documentary photo competition this summer. I keep reading because of the connection to the southwest and Philly, and because it strikes me as unique among photoblogs, both for the use of your own old photos and the way some of the photos are freighted with little stories of their composition, embedded in a broader story about your life. It’s like you’re writing a memoir, one photo and caption at a time. It’s wonderful.

pitchertaker said...

I'm only using my older images currently because I've begun a project of scanning my entire archive. If you were to look back over the "blog archive" (only if you are interested)you'll find many, many entries that are about current images. No matter you reasons, I appreciate your readership and welcome your comments. Thanks.

P'taker

Steve Williams said...

I find all this old work you are posting compelling and triggering a bit of melancholy feelings in me. What's that about? If nothing else photography triggers strong memories in me and awareness of the passing of time. Your pictures trigger memories of my life. Odd...

Great work. I don't often post comments but do really enjoy looking...

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks

pitchertaker said...

Steve: I feel that same sort of melancholy feeling when seeing these images I made two decades or so ago. For me, I'm reliving my past through these visual memories. Maybe for my viewers, the familiarity of the subject matter, the non-heroic nature of what interest me in the images, is somewhat universal. I'm drawn to the quietness of the everyday. It's that same qualithy that I like about your Scooter in the Sticks blog.
(http://vespalx150.blogspot.com/)

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