Category Archives: black & white photography

One Lunger

Back in the 70’s, Woodrow Edwards was our postmaster in the village of Waves. The post office located in his home had maybe a dozen PO boxes and general delivery. Woodrow was always engaging. Current events, the weather or politics, you never knew what the morning’s topic might be. It wasn’t uncommon for him to ask for some help around the house. One day he asked me to help clear some vacant lots across the highway. I’d get the going rate of $3 an hour. I hardly ever turned Woodrow down.

Upon clearing the land, we discovered the remains of an old boat. Still on board was a curious looking motor. Woodrow called it a One Lunger, dating back to the 1920’s or 30’s. It was made of cast iron, and extremely heavy. 

After removing some vegetation the shape of the boat became more apparent.

The narrow stern indicated this must have been a sail skiff converted to engine power. It was about 20 feet in length.

With no transmission attached, it must have been direct drive. As soon as it starts, you’re underway.

Remnants of the engine may still be there, although the wooden carcass long gone.

These engines were also known as “Make and Break Engines”. Click this link to see one running.

The Old Make and Break

Jimmy Buffett

 Mike Genger was one of my best friends in high school and college. We shared similar interests, most notably surfing and music. We learned to surf on 10-foot longboards, and attended rock concerts in the DC area. As fate would have it, we eventually went our separate ways. I moved to Hatteras and continued to surf. Mike went on to become a roadie for some touring bands. He worked with the likes of Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.

In July of 1981, Mike called to say he’d be in Virginia on the 14th at Hampton Coliseum with Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band . The Coconut Telegraph Tour was in full swing. My roommate BJ, and I headed north to get treated with backstage passes. 

Before the concert, we hung out on the tour bus. I was taken by this graphic on the exterior.

I had no experience shooting concerts, but used a roll of Kodak Tri-X black & white film.

Mike led us back stage in the wings, where I was immediately mistaken for singer-songwriter,   JD Souther. Like him, I had long brown hair, and reddish beard. He was a huge influence in the California music scene. I was merely a doppelgänger taking pictures.

My camera was in manual mode. Shutter speed, f-stop and focus, all hit or miss.

This picture intrigued me. Thinking the negative was scratched, I took a closer look. The white mark going down Buffett’s left side is a broken guitar string.

These have never been seen or published before. After I developed the film, I filed it with all my other negatives. It was a memorable, not-to-be-missed opportunity. What a great show, exactly 44 years ago!

 

Tongers of Tilghman Island

I’ve been reviewing lots of photographs from decades ago. Many are all but forgotten and bring back memories, like images I took when working out of Tilghman Island, Maryland.

While crewing aboard the dredging Virginia W, there were times when large portions of Chesapeake Bay froze, leaving the fleet of sailing skipjacks tied up at the dock.

Hand tongers however could reach areas still free of ice to get their harvest. Less efficient in catching oysters, it’s environmentally more friendly to benthic marine life on the bottom.

The shafts on hand tongs can reach lengths of 20 feet or more.

Tongers load the culling board while another crew member saves the good oysters and dumps the detritus overboard.

A more efficient way to use tongs is hydraulically. Called patent tongs, they’re much larger and mechanically harvest more than hand tongs. At the same time, this method can be more destructive to organisms on the bottom.

Working with hand tongs is brutally physical. Imagine the workout you’d have at the end of a day. These watermen worked from a classic Chesapeake Bay dead-rise boat, Mina Conway. For them it was just another day at the office!

McCartney

Beatlemania came December of 1963 when I heard I Wanna Hold Your Hand on an AM radio station in Northern Virginia. On a snowy evening my dad was selling Christmas trees to help raise funds for our Little League as my brother and I sat in a ’58 Volkswagen beetle, radio blaring… waiting for him to close down for the night. I was 14 and unbeknownst to us, a new era in popular music was beginning. The Beatles were taking America by storm.

Paul McCartney used a Pentax to document events that would unfold as his band toured, playing for frantic fans. The film he shot was stored away and forgotten until recently.

The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia is featuring McCartney’s 1963-1964 archives for the first time ever in America. Opened December 5, the exhibit runs through April 7.

There are 250 prints on display throughout several rooms.

Living through this era, the photographs evoked fond memories from my teens.

Could Paul McCartney have become a great photojournalist? Probably, but I’m glad he chose music.

The spacious exhibit area leaves one in a print wonderland. Once you take in certain rooms, it’s easy returning to another.

I liked the mural-sized contact sheet showing Paul’s take on The Ed Sullivan Show.

My favorite was a small 2-frame section made directly from a 35mm paper contact sheet. The original negatives were lost. His intimate portrait of John Lennon blew me away.

Most of the exhibit was richly printed in black and white.

A number of images were made from color transparencies.

Also on display are documents, including hand-written lyrics of the song that started it all.

To learn more about this outstanding exhibit go to:

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm

 

Old Darkroom

In 1977, I moved from a rented mobile home in Salvo to a house in north Rodanthe. It was spacious and located on highway 12. It marked the start of a new life for me. I installed track lights in the living room, and painted my name on a sheet of plywood to post in the front yard. The best part was having a 14×16 utility room where I built a huge darkroom. I blacked out the windows and made a long sink with epoxy. I’d print any time, day or night. Since it had a window-mounted air conditioner, I occasionally slept there on hot summer nights.

That phase brought years of enjoyment honing my craft, surfing and meeting people. Rent was $150 a month. Visitors showed up to buy photographic prints, so it became a way life.

In March of 1980 there was a blizzard backed with hurricane force winds. I kept cozy burning driftwood in a wood stove. With Hurricane Gloria approaching in 1985, I made my only evacuation from the island. Upon returning I discovered some tide had come in the house and there were dead fish in the yard. I lived there 10 years until 1987 when I built my place in Waves.

Fast-forward to 2011, Hurricane Irene devastated our town with 10 feet of storm surge from the Sound. In the aftermath, I watched an excavator demolish the building that was once a big part of my life. There must have been 4 feet of water inside. I peered into the last room about to go down, my old darkroom!