Today would have been my Dad’s 99th birthday. I’ve posted a number of pictures of him in prior posts and it’s starting to become difficult to find good pictures of him I haven’t already posted—he generally preferred to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. The nude figure studies probably wouldn’t be the best choice. I don’t know that I’ll ever forget the expression on the face of a dear friend of ours when she stumbled across them, thumbing through one of our old photo albums.
I’m not entirely sure of the story behind this photo. I suspect he took it himself, probably trying out the timer feature on his camera. I would say he’s in his late twenties or early thirties here. His expression is a bit goofy. He had very poor vision and I can only speculate that he removed his glasses to avoid the reflection from the flash that would otherwise have been apparent.
I don’t know that I’ve really conveyed my Dad’s personality in my posts about him. One of his most notable characteristics was enthusiasm. He approached everything with enormous energy, drive, and joy.
He was an avid and skilled amateur photographer. He belonged to a photography club and was an early experimenter with color photography.
He was also what’s called an “early adopter” of technology. He was the first lawyer in St. Louis to use a dictaphone or xerography and not too many years before his death he was starting to write articles about technology in the practice of law.
I’m quite sure he would have been thrilled with digital photography and would have owned a top-of-the-line professional camera.
Great picture. What do you think your father’s take on instagram and selfies would have been?
Also, I didn’t know you were from the city of TS Eliot, William Burroughs and Miles Davis. In my opinion, St Louis, along with Kansas City, are two of the most overlooked cities in America…Far better, for example, than New Orleans.
Although he was personally quite modest he was far from being a prude. Indeed, burlesque was one of his favorite forms of entertainment.
I’m not sure what he would have thought of them. He was an odd combination of the 19th and the 21st centuries. For example, not only did he believe in the equality of the sexes, he thought that women who could hold a job outside the home had an obligation to do so. Any idea of “the little woman” was completely foreign to him.
Unlike New Orleans, St. Louis hides its light under a bushel. It has a lot to offer but you really need to know your way around.
Before reading your text I got the impression of a sense of humor, of modesty without shyness or withdrawal, determination and energy. Definitely energy. He looks like he might just snap out of those suspenders if he got excited. On first look he definitely passes the “would you like to have a beer with that guy?” test. The techie thing isn’t something that reads from the photo, but then it wouldn’t.
It always makes me a bit uncomfortable seeing how important fathers are. I am one now, and probably one who will kick off early in my kid’s lives. I would be enormously gratified if my kids were posting about me long after my death. But also feel strange about having that kind of influence.
You may surprise yourself. I never expected to live as long as I have. I’ve outlived my dad and my paternal grandfather by decades. As it turns out, I take after my mom’s side of the family rather than my dad’s.
My mom’s b’day was today too. I saw her this afternoon….
You’re lucky. Ask her about family members who died before you were born. It’s the only way you’ll know anything about them.
I’m lucky to have a parent alive. However, I was much closer to my father than my mom, and he died when I was quite young. However, I always have enormous regard for those who continually honor their parents as you regularly seem to do.
It was also interesting to me that your dad was an avid camera guy. My husband’s grandfather, was an inventor, having a machine shop in the Sacramento, CA area. He constructed engines for the Wright Brothers, was an early race car driver, and built one of the first color cameras. His photographs, which he developed himself, are hanging in kind of a gallery hallway of our home. I personally like the self-portrait you posted of your dad. That era of mankind was a good one, IMO.