YAY!!!!

This past Friday was the one year anniversary of my website --- launched on August 15, 2013.

My gallery1126 has been in the works for many years and will always be a work in progress but it's been a good first year. People ask me... what are you.... a teacher, a mentor, a designer, a photographer, an artist??? And my answer is yep... all of the above.... who wants to be just one thing :)

I'm just me and I just love art.... pretty simple. There's a strong connection to photography in my family roots. Nothing major news worthy and no one famous but loving photographs is in my DNA.

Grandma: Herta Schindlbeck

This is my grandmother's first camera. It's a Kodak box camera-- part of the brownie series. She never told me much about it but the fact that she keep it and keep it in good condition says a lot. I am so honored that my Aunt Janet passed this down to me.

My grandmother's first camera / Six-16 Brownie originally $3-$4

Here are a few of her snapshots of my father (the first of eight kids) using this camera...

Gerald 1944 ..  love the smile — Gerald 1944 .. love the smile

Pop-Pop: Ralph Chiachetti

And my mom's dad had a great love of photography.... taking and printing his own photos in the basement where he made a darkroom. Knowing what I know now of traditional photography and having made my own prints, I love holding his original silver gelatin prints. He died when I was very young so I never got to hear his stories but he is definitely a part of who I am and why I love photography.

Here are some of his prints....

My nana / Ann Chiachetti / 1935 and 1936

And this is one of my most favorite photographs.....

Ann Chiachetti taken in December 1935 by Ralph Chiachetti / Philadelphia

Dad: Gerald Schindlbeck

This is my father's camera....

I loved the look of this camera growing up and always remember my dad behind it. All of our great photos and family memories are because of him.... honestly... if it was up to my mom to be the family photographer, all of the photos would have the heads cut off. She did not get the photo gene. She loves a great photo but bless her heart, she can't take a good photo... love ya mama!

I have lots of great memories of playing at the park growing up and my dad pushing me on the swing.... so high in the sky.... such a great feeling. Here's one of my favorite photographs he took of me on the swings.

Me

My first camera was a Kodak disc that I got for Christmas in 1986. Such a clever design.... I loved that film disc.... very trendy. I had a few other point-and-shoot film cameras after that and my 35mm SLR.... a Pentax K1000... a classic. This is it...

I did share some of my first darkroom prints in a previous post. They were taken with this camera. In 2006 I started showing my work. Here is one of the first photos I printed, framed, and sold as part of a gallery display at Imagine on Main-- a little artisan shop in Oswego.

It's from my dad's garden.... another great love of his. Besides the flowers, my favorite thing about his garden was the raspberry bush. It was great to just pick fresh raspberries right off the vine each day. Over the years the bushes have slowly gone downhill. We only had about 5-8 raspberries total this year. His raspberries really were the best around. I never did photograph them.

The love of photography has continued down the line. My niece Layla asked for a "camera like Aunt Annie's" this past Christmas. She did not get a DSLR but did get a great digital starter camera. And like most teenagers, she love a photo app :)

Here is an iphone photo she shared with me....

But more and more, my nephew Aidan is grabbing my camera every chance he gets. He goes around on his own to see what there is to see. Here we were working on focal point and aperture. This was taken with my Canon 5d mark ii and 85mm 1.8 lens.

So like I said, nothing news worthy and no one famous.... just the love of looking at life through the lens.

sunday snapshot # 10

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