Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My hamburger on a roller skate

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In 1974 I was a student at Diablo Valley Junior college in Pleasant Hill, CA. I was a very shy person and I started taking photography classes because I was interested in photography from taking pictures of trains. It was a great program with some wonderful photography professors and students, a great darkroom, studio, large format cameras; etc. (I am sure the lab has since been ripped out and replaced with rows of computers equipped with Photoshop.)

One of the assignments was to do a photo about fast food, which in 1974 meant the great American hamburger. So, I bought a basic McDonald's hamburger, put it on a rollerskate and drove out to highway J4 on the way to Tracy, CA.

This arrow straight country highway saw light traffic, so I put the burger on the center line and shot away. Yes, I got an A, not to mention some funny looks from drivers of passing cars.

It was in this class that I saw a flyer that said the college paper was looking for photographers. Since I was shy I thought being on the college newspaper would give me an excuse to talk to girls. It did.

This led to my attending a junior college journalism (Journalism Association of Community Colleges, JACC) conference in Anaheim (where I met my first wife.) The rest is history.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Excellent lunch with Jeff

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Last Tuesday middle son Jeff and I met in Japantown not far from where I work and had lunch. We had some yummy Sushi at Sushi Maru. After lunch we went to Roy's Station for some excellent coffee. It was great spending time with Jeff. We had a very pleasant conversation. He is doing very well since his recent graduation. I do miss him at SJSU though.

PS - This picture was taken with my $5 Nikon L35AF by a person working at the coffee shop.