My Dad took this photograph in Washington D.C. sometime in the mid-1980′s. I sat with him in his darkroom as he developed the film.
Many years ago, in a Kansas town far, far away from San Francisco, I sat with my dad in the darkroom he built in our basement. I was nine or ten years old. I happily inhaled the toxic chemicals without thinking twice. I watched for hours as my dad “burned” and “dodged” his photos, creating artsy images of my sisters and I in black and white.
I guess you could say I come from a long line of creative artists who have experimented with new media. My great-great-great grandfather “Dad Martin” was one of the first people to create and distribute “Tall Tale Postcards.” I also recently discovered that he had a foray into film, creating short stories that were viewed on a steroscope. [insert scan here]
In middle school, I discovered the power of the “press pass” which enabled me to roam the empty halls during fifth hour going in and out of various classes as a reporter for the newspaper. [insert scan of press pass here]
I started my journalism career writing Q&A’s, interviewing students, teachers and administrators. I wrote a book review or two. I think I also covered Student Council (although I was a little jaded against student government simply because my creative election campaign “Don’t be Spacey, Vote for Staci” had completely back fired and it took more than a year to recover my name). In the end, I have a ton of great memories about junior high newspaper staff. I made some good friends and I had some great times in our “newsroom.”
Then I got to high school. I enrolled in photography, art and journalism classes.
My sophomore year, I decided to sign-up for yearbook staff with a couple of my friends. I wrote stories, picked photos and designed page layouts. I loved designing page layouts, choosing photos and writing witty headlines. However, my cutting edge style did not impress my adviser and I grew tired of arguing over the “rules.”
The next year I switched to the newspaper staff. Same adviser, different medium. I wrote stories, did some music and movie reviews, designed pages and helped redesign the flag.
My senior year, I was appointed Assistant Editor, I was pretty irritated that the adviser had made me Ass. Ed. and not THE Editor. But now I realize it was probably for my own good. After all, the Editor is more of a figure head and the AssEd/ME is usually the one down in the trenches running the show. I stayed after school every Thursday to put the newspaper together.
My senior year, I also began working more with advertising, designing ads and writing copy for local businesses. It was then decided I wanted to be in advertising.
The back story: Part II Coming Soon…
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