Friday, August 03, 2012

CHRISTMAS … 1961



My brother-in-law who lives in Connecticut, came across this picture recently and sent it on to me. That’s me, my husband and our three children in our apartment on West 94th Street in NY City. It was our Christmas card picture for 1961.

As soon as I saw the photo the memories started flooding in. I remember the layout of that apartment. It had a large living room, two bedrooms, two baths, a small study, a dining room and a kitchen.

You’d think that would be more than enough room for our family of 5 but my husband was a free lance industrial photographer and we’d turned one of the bedrooms into a studio and office and the bathroom into a darkroom. We needed the dining room because client dinners were a necessity so that left the small study for the children. It was crowded but they loved it.

I often wonder what my husband would think of photography today. I remember all the equipment he’d tote with him … strobe lights, wires, 3 or 4 different types of cameras, tripods, etc. He would then come home and we would spend hours and hours developing film, cropping and printing photos and then washing the prints in the bathtub. We would then hang them up to dry (using clothespins !) on the lines we’d strung across the studio.

Kind of a Rube Goldberg set-up to be sure but the results were pretty amazing and it kept us in rent money ! Ah … to be that young again !!

8 Comments:

Blogger ellen said...

Oh,Ginnie...I do love you so. You are amazing in so many ways. I have so much respect for you...and, again love.
So many things seem so far away. Perhaps they are, but then at times, they seem such a blink away. It happens in an instant.

8:36 PM  
Blogger Diana said...

A warm and sweet memory Ginnie!
Love Di ♥

5:47 AM  
Blogger Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Ginnie, as always, thanks for another amazing look into your life. The picture is very nostalgic. I also did B&W processing back in the day although my darkroom then as my parents basement. Your husband would be very surprised by today's digital advancements and you would had an extra rom!

6:09 AM  
Blogger Arkansas Patti said...

Photography used to be more art than it is today. Then you didn't know you had the perfect shot till it appeared through the chemicals.
I'm sure he would love the ease but might miss the challenge and care required.
Funny how old pictures take us immediately back to that time.
Happy that you had such a sweet memory jog.

1:09 PM  
Blogger possum said...

Great picture, great memories, I am sure. I,too, had a darkroom in my house, and loved the challenge to processing my own prints. There was magic in seeing that image come up in that tray. It is hard to have the same respect for clicking on a button to change or enhance the color.

6:22 AM  
Anonymous schmidleysscribblins,wordpress.com said...

A trip down memory lane...the photo equipment, not the husband.

Although I only used the tripod and fancy camera and never did the thing with developing my own prints, I recall taking good photos took great skill. How nostalgic to look back now and remember learning about different types of film, filters and lenses.

Thanks for sharing a fond memory of you and your beautiful family.

Dianne

1:23 PM  
Blogger Anvilcloud said...

A picture of domestic happiness.

5:19 AM  
Blogger Syd said...

I used to do photography the old fashioned way when I started back in the 1970's. Now I am totally digital, although I still own my old 35 mm cameras.
Thanks for sharing the photograph and your memories.

5:25 AM  

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