Photo assignment from college netting an A+

The 1980 assignment was called “table top.” We were told to make an interesting photo from stuff arranged on a table. I got top marks of the 60 first year students – A+. I made this from a curtain rod in my basement. The fishing pole was actually a stir stick for drinks. I drilled some holes in the stir stick and added a fishing hook with black thread. The reel part was a piece of plastic with a hole drilled in it. The bird was from a souvenir from Florida. The sand was play sand; the tuna was from Dominion (A&P). The sign was made from black mat board and Letraset rub down letters (something of the past). A white pencil was used to simulate a chalk board effect. A toy windup fish was hung with thread from the curtain rods, A Nikon FE with 35mm 125 ASA black & white film was used to record the image. (This was long before digital). The film was processed and printed on Ilford multigrade glossy paper using a 3.5 filter. There was about 15 -20 + hours invested in the one image, from trying to come up with an idea, finding pieces to simulate a fishing pier, and booking studio time, plus film & print processing, then mounting the final image on an 11 x 14 mat board. The nonsense you see and read on LotterySquirrel.com today has evolved from these types of photos.

Jump ahead 32 years with a digital camera and a few tickets to Florida, you can do this in seconds and the whole world can see. You can even put a few Google ads with your photos and make some beer money!

It is great being away from the numerous chemicals used to make a black & white photo! I love pixels!