These were the first pictures i snapped on my own -- probably sometime in 1979 -- taken with a "
Brownie." Mike had the identical camera and you can see him holding it in this shot in front of my childhood home, which also includes Mom, Dad, John, and our dog Tiff.
The most memorable part of this first roll of film was heading into the city of Chicago...
...and the Shedd Aquarium where aside from navigating the many people the challenge was angling the flash correctly through the windows which contained the fish. Wouldn't have been a big deal except we (brother Mike & i) only had a few flash bulbs each in our ration. Since it would be months before i would have the film developed, the only immediate payoff was the awesome explosion of these mini-fireworks. They were at least an inch tall and had a cotton-ball sized wad of filament inside. They would pop a blue-white light, fade quickly to orange, and we had to wait for them to cool before removing them. It just added to the intrigue in the quest for a picture.
It would have been amazing to have a digital camera with unlimited chances to shoot, but as it was i only had ~16 chances over a period of months. i had to pick my spots. So when i heard a car accident at the end of our street, i grabbed the camera and ran.
i wasn't a budding photojournalist. It was just plain fun.
