A little history

I remember the day, even the moment I decided to take up photography. I was about eleven or twelve and the thought simply occurred to me that I should have a hobby. My grandfather worked in a camera store and had a darkroom, and my mother had an old Voightländer Vitessa 35mm camera. In between seventh and eighth grade I swept floors at A-1 Photo, the store my grandfather bought that year, and then in high school I worked behind the counter. Eventually I worked the photo lab there as well.  In the early 1980s I worked for an up and coming volume family photography outfit and worked both out of a trailer and in peoples' homes. Later, I moved to Sacramento and worked for an in-home family portrait outfit. In the early nineties I was back in San Pedro, at my grandfathers lab. There was a wedding chapel in town where I shot a few weddings on the weekend and a small newspaper that I shot all kinds of things for, from portraits, to advertisements, to news coverage. The local daily news photogs in town knew me and threw assignments my way occasionally.  I also hooked up with my earlier family photography employer, which had by then grown considerably. I was kind of disappointed when the guy who'd fired me didn't even recognize me. Jerk. At any rate, around that time, I got tired of what amounted to getting a new job every week and jumped a the chance for steady employment when a friend told me about an office position. 

With a little income in my pocket, I was free to take pictures of things I liked, but the only time I had free was at night, so, I did a lot of night photography in black and white. I even had a showing at a local art center, but was prevented from attending my own opening because of my day job. The people at the center were toying with the idea of hiring me as a photography instructor, but it fell through, and then they lost the portfolio I'd let them borrow. Still, I did the occasional wedding, assisted a few times with other pros and kept at it. I lived in a one room cottage, where the bedroom was a darkroom. I slept on the floor in the living room, until I got a mattress.

I haven't mentioned being married and divorced and having a daughter, but that all happened too, and in 2001 I met Michelle. In 2002 we got married and I insisted on shooting pictures at my own wedding. I set them up, and my stepdad snapped them. He had been a crime scene photographer, so I figured he was the best qualified person to do it. Michelle encouraged me to approach my daughter's school band director about taking pictures. That worked, and then we did it at the high school. That happened for a number of years, but the school recently contracted with a big outfit to do the yearbook pics, and they took over everything.  The property management company Michelle works for has hired me many times now to shoot pictures of their properties, and I also have a photo station set up when she has a big community event, like a Halloween carnival. We have continued to shoot weddings, using only word of mouth advertising. That's been fine. I always say that weddings are the best events to shoot: everyone is dressed up, happy and expecting to get their pictures taken. Now, I feel like I want to get back into portraiture. My daughter, now grown and married, just had a baby, so I have built-in clients. It's given me fresh energy, and I'm looking forward to producing some great work again soon. 

Evelyn