"Smile"

I wish I had some childhood holiday pictures to share and compare - but Christmases of my youth are preserved on movie reels and slides.

My father was an AV guy. That's got to be the explanation. He loved to document all family trips and gatherings using his reflex camera, (was it a Canon? something like this anyway) and a small movie camera - something like this. And he judged the light by using something like this. I don't quite remember what the meter looked like but I remember it was in a leather case. Everything had a strap. He was covered in straps. He wasn't in many of the pictures, I don't think. How could he be when he and my mom were the only ones who knew how to use the cameras? For the most part, us kids were not allowed to touch the well cared for equipment.

Watching ourselves was a favorite family night activity. Dad would get out the movie projector - looked very much like this. And we'd watch them on a screen. Yes - we had our own screen -looked like this. The slide projector - we went from rows to circle trays. There are 100s of slides. Every holiday, every vacation beautifully documented with smiling faces. My father would say, "If you don't have someone in the picture than you might as well just buy a postcard" - something like that anyway. We always finished up watching home movies by watching a Mighty Mouse cartoon and a movie short of "The Little Rascals" taking medicine.

We were not allowed to operate the equipment. That was for the AV guy. I think, that when he turned 12, Ed had the chance to run the projectors. It wasn't too long afterward that all of this was stashed away to non use. I think the movie projector ended up having troubles - it was old. And Instamatics came into vogue. The thrill of using a sophisticated reflex fell by the wayside with everyone using these snapshot cameras. Maybe my dad's camera ended up having some problems as well, but he never got it out as much anymore. My mom took over the picture taking - and us kids as well. We had more pictures with my dad in the shots but pictures of my mom became scarce. I remember the Instamatics and their crazy flashbulbs! I'm pretty sure Sandy had one. I received my first camera, a Kodak 110, Christmas of '78 - in time for our summer trip to Europe. Also was Christmas in West Yellowstone with Algers - my first pictures with the camera are from that fun visit.
Elizabeth and I made this snowman.

I never had the chance to operate the movie camera but when I was *20* I had the chance to use the reflex. Dad had long before stopped being the family photo historiographer. Some reason the camera came out and I wanted to learn how to use it. I never quite got it down but I did get a few pictures - even of the AV man himself.
The Cement Ship at Sunset Beach/Rio Del Mar.

You used to be able to go out on the ship.

I'm pretty sure this was the day after the beach trip - it's Father's Day '84.



I love the AV Guy.