IMAGES FROM MY CHILDHOOD: Jackie Kennedy with blood on her dress standing by LBJ, while he is sworn in as President. John-John saluting his father's coffin. The Beatles. Malcolm X raising his hand defiantly. Roger Maris in Yankee pinstripes smiling, finally, when he beat Babe Ruth for the most home runs in a season. Alan Shepard, our New Hampshire hometown boy, as the first American in space. Martin Luther King standing in front of The Jefferson Memorial at the march on Washington. Albert DeSalvo "The Boston Strangler" in handcuffs at Boston Police station. These are the images that shaped me personally and defined my generation. Back then, way back then, before color TV, we waited for
Life Magazine
.
From
Life
I developed a long love affair with photography. I learned about the great photographers and I learned how to use a camera. Back then I hadn't been ruined by the drive to get a good photo so I happily snapped away at everything with my Kodak Instamatic. Then I saw a photograph that taught me that in addition to relaying information about something newsworthy, a photograph could amaze and transport me in a way that was very new and very different. The first time I "saw" a great photograph I was 17 or so and I saw a photograph taken by Ansel Adams,
Moonrise, Hernandez, New
Mexico, (
www.AnselAdams.com
)
in a magazine while waiting in a doctor's office.
The image was small, but I could still see this shocking streak of light over a graveyard in this little town in New Mexico. At the time I had never been to New Mexico and I had never heard of Ansel Adams. The picture was in a coupon of some sort and I filled it out and got the poster. It stayed with me through many, many moves and now it is framed, finally, and hangs in my classroom at The High School in the Community. Such is the power of an image.
