Friday, July 3, 2015: Honoring a Father File
by ag
(Click on image to enlarge.)
My father was a purchasing agent for a manufacturing company and when I was young, he would sometimes take me to the factories of his suppliers. There I entered a world unlike anything I ever experienced at home, in school, or during family vacations. Years later, as a freelance photographer specializing in editorial assignments for major corporations and magazines, I worked in similar environments portraying the machinery, industrial processes, laboratories, and labor that produce the stuff of daily life — everything from computers, steel, paper, and monoclonal antibodies to bread and mayonnaise. My subjects never ceased to fascinate, nor did I lose the sense of privilege that comes from photographing subjects that the public rarely gets to see. Two decades must have passed though before I connected what was happening in my professional career to those wondrous childhood visits to Dad’s vendors.
I mention all this because my father, who died in 1992, would have been 108 today. And just yesterday, I found the ring he always wore — which I thought was lost forever after moving to my new apartment in the fall. It was at the bottom of a recycled, padded envelope I had put some tools and wire in, which I used last week while working on an art project. I’ve been wearing the ring all day, marveling at what a special gift it was to show up when it did and not some other time. I had forgotten that the band is inscribed on the inside surface with each of my parent’s names.
So — a very happy birthday, Dad, and thank you for those weekend trips you took me on. Did you have any inkling then how they would play out in the future?
Isn’t it funny how long it took to connect the dots? I’m glad he took you. I agree, it’s a fascinating world and can be a privilege to see. A close friend used to sell equipment for industry – scales, pressurized spray machinery, etc. He tells great stories about the factories. I can see a connection to your work – the photos that are bits of the industrial, manufactured stuff of our lives. Same world, different perspective?
I’m happy you found the ring! Crazy!
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Thanks Lynn for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully.
Regarding my current personal images compared to my earlier professional work, one could also say with equal validity I think: Different worlds, same perspective.
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Great post and portrait.
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Thanks John. This was taken in our Bronx apartment with my first serious camera, a 35mm Honeywell Pentax SLR, when I was 21 years old and one year out of college.
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