There’s a little something for everyone on this roll. Candid band shots! The Middle School Carnival! Peggy’s new haircut! My high score on River Raid!
The photos on this roll were taken during the time period of Friday, March 9, 1984 through Monday, March 19, 1984. The ten-day gap in between is due to the fact that Spring Break fell into that timespan; in other words, most of the photos on this roll were taken on the Friday before Spring Break, with a few other photos taken after then.
The Friday before Spring Break was also the last day of the third grading period of the school year, and so we had to come to school on that day in order to get our report cards (I suppose we didn’t have to be there to get our grades since we would get them eventually). The mid-term report “card” was actually a slip of paper that we had to hold on to all day long and take to each class and have each teacher write our grade on it, along with their signature and any comments, as Peggy models in the following photo:
(Why is Peggy’s report card impaled on the end of a pen which is stuck in her mouth? I dunno. I’m sure it all made sense back then.)
So on the Friday before Spring Break, do you think that we will be doing any practicing in Band class? Heck, no! Do you think Mr. Stephens will let us go early? Heck, no! But I did manage to snap a few good candid shots of my fellow band members:
Unfortunate placement of, uhm, sticks …
Everyone is falling asleep except for Ranjan.
In an attempt to ensure that all of the middle school students showed up for the last day of school before the break (and then to ensure that they remained in school until the end of the day), the middle school faculty came up with the brilliant idea of the Middle School Carnival, held in the gymnasium that afternoon, where games were played for tickets and prizes. I managed to get an excuse out of band class in order to go down to the gym and take photos for the newspaper, but by the time I got there, things were wrapping up. Consequently, I decided that none of these photos were any good, and therefore none were printed for the newspaper (not that they were going to report on the event anyway) …
This was actually a pretty cool idea: Bring in a video game system and have an “arcade.” Being that this was 1984, and the screen looks more like a monitor than a television, I am betting that the system was an Apple II or a Commodore 64.
Speaking of videogames, what did I do during my Spring Break?
In the 1980s, when Activision was the king of third-party game developers for the Atari 2600 Video Computer System, they offered an incentive to the players: Reach a certain high score, take a photograph of the screen and mail it to them, and they would send you an embroidered patch for your achievement. Based on the two photographs taken during this week, I must have stayed inside and played a lot of River Raid, trying to break 15,000 points so that I could get my River Raiders embroidered patch. Note the fine model of television in the above photo, our 1973 Zenith black and white unit … a fairly advanced model when it first came out, as it had both UHF (the top dial) and VHF channels (1-13, the bottom dial). My father firmly believed that the video game console was damaging to the CRT of the color TV, so we had to play our Atari on the old b&w. Make a special note of the handle on the top of the television — this unit, in spite of the fact that it was roughly the size of a truck engine and weighed almost 40 pounds, was intended to be portable.
This great shot of my dog Rocky was also taken sometime during Spring Break:
I have no idea what settings I used on the camera to make the contrast come out the way that it did … the above image is the original off of the negative with no post-operative Photoshopping involved. Note that this shot appears, for some reason, as a blank white space on the proof sheet.
Peggy’s hair the day before Spring Break:
Peggy’s hair the day after Spring Break:
And then there’s Randy H:
Randy was this guy who was in the grade above us and always sat in front of me in fifth period Health Science class. He was a nice guy, a little obnoxious, but he always seemed to put up with my wacky antics. Peggy requested that I take this photo of him to finish off the roll because, as it turned out, this was his last day at our school … his family was moving to Florida and they were leaving immediately. So I got this shot, one of my better portraits. And then I never saw him again.
And that’s what was happening on and around Spring Break 1984.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (September 3rd): Talent! Feed it!
There were 21 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll, along with additional commentary. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
I have never made it a secret that I did not have very many friends in my own class; that most of my friends from elementary through middle and high school were in the grades below me. My freshman year at Model Lab School was especially difficult because I had very little contact with my good friends in eighth grade (and this is why I took so many photos of Keith and Peggy, my only two friends in high school at the time). If there was an opportunity to hang out with my buddies in middle school, sure, I’d take it. And that is the theme of this roll, taken during the week of March 5-8, 1984, in which all of the photos (except for one) were taken at two separate Middle School events: A rollerskating party for the Middle School Art Club, and a concert by the Middle School Band. I am positive that I took these photos with the intent of contributing them to The Observer, but, unfortunately, none of them were accepted.
But first, the one non-Middle School photo on this roll:
I have come to the conclusion that I had made it a ritual to load my camera with a new roll of film during fifth period Health Science class and then use the “first shot never comes out” excuse to take the Peggy shot. This explains why there seems to be a photo of her in fifth period Health Science class at the beginning of so many rolls. One must wonder, though, about the rolls in which the first shot actually didn’t come out …
In the early to mid-1980s, the only two places for “family fun” in Richmond, KY (that I can recall) were Maroon Lanes (the bowling alley) and Jim’s Roll-Arena (the rollerskating rink). The Model Lab Middle School Art Club, run with an unbelievable amount of dedication by Mrs. Isaacs, sponsored events at both venues. And I thought that maybe the newspaper might be interested in a photo from one of these skating parties. I made my way to the arena, talked my way past the door by saying that I was taking photos and was not going to skate, and then planted myself against a far wall with my camera. My idea was that I would take some photos from a distance and then enlarge them in the darkroom. You would think that by now I would have remembered that this DIDN’T REALLY WORK …
Just not quite large enough to see the faces. Or to be interesting.
In fact, the only fun shot of the afternoon was this one of Shay:
And did I really think that the photos that I took, when the lights went out and the disco ball lit up, with no flash, would come out?
Looking at these photos over a quarter of a century later, I do appreciate that they serve as a reminder of how Jim’s Roll-Arena looked back in the day …
… with it’s long benches along the walls, and the counter at the front where you rented your skates, and the snack bar next to it, and the videogame arcade next to that (in the dark shot two photos above, you can see the screens of the arcade machines in the background).
When Mr. Stephens came to Model, one of the new activities that he brought was that of the “Student Concert,” in which the band students not only selected the pieces to be performed, they could also direct them in concert. Now, granted, on the middle school performance level, we were talking about pieces that were contained on one piece of paper; we weren’t talking about extended overtures or major multi-act numbers, and the “conducting” basically amounted to someone standing on the podium keeping the beat, setting the rhythm, and cutting off the band when the piece was over. But it was a unique and fun experience for those that chose to participate. And it allowed the band members to dress up and not wear the standard white Oxford shirt and dress pants/skirt that served as the middle school band “uniform.” The majority of the selections were those that had been previously performed by the band members (”Soul Explosion” and “A Lotta Jazz” were two perennial favorites), and Mr. Stephens eventually had to put a moratorium on pieces that had been performed within the last year, or since the last Student Concert.
The Middle School Band had first performed the Student Concert the previous year, and the concert of March 8, 1984 was the second time that the band put on this show. Josh M. opened the concert with “March from ‘The Eagle Has Landed’,” which was followed by Bert T. directing the pep band piece “Eye of the Tiger,” and then Shay Q. took the baton in band to direct “Scarborough Fair.”
Eddy T. directed “King of the Road,” Meena M. directed “Theme from ‘Hill Street Blues’” (one of the more “advanced” numbers, last performed by the high school band in 1982), Brent M. directed the pep band piece “‘Peter Gunn’ Theme” (always a favorite of the band), Chris W. directed “El Rio de Tristeza” (being the only new piece that had not been previously performed by the band that was not an arrangement), Chris N. directed “Rock Around the Clock,” and Heather H. directed “Eleanor Rigby.” Maria R. was listed on the program to direct the closing number, “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” but she fell ill and was absent at the concert and so Mr. Stephens took her place (I didn’t bother taking a photo during this piece because we already knew what Mr. Stephens looks like when he directs).
The inherent problem with taking photos of the Student Conductors while they were directing is that their backs are to the camera, and the only time that they face the audience is when they are taking a bow …
… and those photos just won’t do. I did manage to get photos of the band members when each row stood to be recognized:
I wrote an article for The Observer covering the concert, and submitted photos to go with it. The problem was that there was no way the newspaper was going to run photos of every student conductor (especially considering that you couldn’t see their faces), nor were they going to have the room to run the three separate photos of everyone standing, so they just chose to run the article without an accompanying photo:
(The photo and caption actually go with the article that was printed to the left of the photo. Don’t blame the editors; it was really more of a last minute formatting decision in order to shoehorn my article into the issue. And yes, Mr. Stephens was, in fact, late to the concert, having gone home and taken one of his legendary epic naps before the show.)
Program from the concert:
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (August 27th): Spring carnival! Peggy gets a haircut! Inappropriate use of mallets! So much excitement packed into one roll!
There were 20 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll, although I do believe that I may have used the majority of them in illustrating this piece. There’s additional commentary hidden in there somewhere, though, so please do take a look. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
With the visit from the Danbury High School Band a thing of the past, it was time to return to the reality of high school, or as close to reality as we were going to get. The past week had been exciting, and the next week continued that momentum.
The last regular season basketball game had been played during the past week, and now it was time for the inevitable District playoffs. There were four schools in our district — Model High, Madison High, Madison Central, and Berea — and it was a foregone conclusion, particularly in the 1980s, that Madison Central was going to win the tournament and go on to Regionals. It did not hurt Central’s chances, either, that they were always seeded in the first round game against either Model High or Berea, arguably the two weakest teams in the district, not only almost guaranteeing them a win, but also setting up for an exciting final tournament showdown between Central and crosstown rival Madison High, and isn’t that what it’s all about, an exciting final battle?
However, this was the year that things were going to be different, because Model High had a secret weapon in senior forward Derek F., one of the best players that Model had ever had (or, more accurately, one of the few players that other schools in the area, cough, Central, cough, hadn’t recruited away from Model). Derek had been averaging 20 points per game. If the other players could get the ball into Derek’s hands, then he usually could make the shot. Unfortunately for us, other schools had started to figure out that we were essentially a one-player team, and had begun constructing a defense that involved shutting him down, and no one else was really stepping up (especially after senior guard Gus B. was injured mid-season). But we were hopeful that Derek and the team would be able to rise above these challenges and possibly give Coach Kearns his first district win. We were paired with Madison High for the first round game. Not the worst pairing, as it was certainly a winnable game. The girls’ basketball team also received the same pairing, and so both schools would play the first round game on Thursday, March 1. Madison Central and Berea girls’ and boys’ teams would play their games on Friday, March 2, and the winners would play for the championship on Saturday, March 3.
In an attempt to boost school spirit for this game, the high point in the school year for athletics, the week of February 27 to March 1 was designated as “Spirit Week,” with every day being a themed dress-up day. Monday was “Hat and Button Day”:
Tuesday was “Dress-Up Day”:
Wednesday was “Sleepwear Day”:
Thursday was “Patriot Day,” in which everyone was to wear their Red and Blue, leading up to the big basketball game that evening. But before the game, there was the pep rally in the gymnasium during sixth period. For this one, the last and biggest pep rally of the year, there was a special surprise: The members of the Boys Varsity Basketball team appeared dressed in the cheerleaders’ uniforms …
If that doesn’t get you fired up for some exciting basketball, well, then, uhm …
The boys team played as well as could be expected but they still lost to Madison High. The girls lost as well. Both games featured some of the worst officiating ever seen on the court. At the time, I barely understood the game of basketball, and even I could see the blown calls and insane penalties that the zebras threw at Model High.
Other highlights on this roll:
Over the weekend, on Saturday, February 25, 1984, the Model Boys’ Swim Team won the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) State Swimming and Diving Championships that were held at EKU (so at least one Model team won this week at Alumni Coliseum). It is interesting to note that this is the first time that the Model team won has won the state championship since they combined the swimming and diving meets. It is even more impressive to note that this Model team was undefeated in dual meets. In the photo above, Coach Cahill says a few words while the team is recognized at an assembly on Monday, February 27, 1984. You can see the impressive state trophy in the lower righthand corner.
This is probably my best photo (but it was still rejected by The Observer) of this pyramid formation by the Model High School Boys Varsity Cheerleaders who, incidentally, had come in second place at the District Cheerleading Competition on February 12, 1984. This victory allowed them to compete at regionals on Sunday, February 26, 1984, where they won the award for Best Pom Routine. It was a good weekend for Model High athletics.
If I do say so, this is my best portrait of Mr. Stephens (considering the subject matter and the fact that I will take a lot of bad portraits over the next few decades). I especially like the contrast with the wall in the background.
Self-portrait!
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (August 2oth): The answer to the eternal question, “Just how good does Shay rollerskate?”
There were 21 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll, including original and cropped versions of many shots on this roll, the last batch of cheerleader photos from the District Tournament, Peggy tickle-attacked by Keith, and some other odds and ends. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
Continued from the previous episode, this roll contains photos taken on Thursday, February 23, 1984, documenting the visit of the Danbury High School Band (from Lakeside, Ohio) to Richmond, KY, where they performed a joint concert with the Model High School Band. All of the photos on this roll are from that day, and the same location — Edwards Auditorium in Model Lab School. The first eight shots are from the afternoon rehearsal; the rest of the roll are from the concert.
As the “Official Band Photographer” (and in a move that didn’t make much sense at the time, and certainly doesn’t make much sense now), I somehow managed to be excused from rehearsing a couple of pieces in order to go out into the audience and take photos of the combined bands rehearsing. Did Mr. Stephens believe that it was essential that photos be taken of the band PRACTICING, or did he think that his last chair clarinet player was not necessarily an essential musician and would therefore not be missed for these two pieces? Not sure. At any rate, while everyone else was engaged in performing their music, I was running around the auditorium, snapping my pictures:
Tanya meditates with her clarinet:
Mr. Stephens actually sat in with the band on the saxophone while Mr. Price directed:
I managed to snag this fabulous photo of Tanya and Sarah in the back room of the band room before the concert:
Photos from the concert itself were taken by my mother, always willing to do her part for the cause:
Mr. Stephens captioned this one “Let Us Pray” for the Band Yearbook:
The DHS Band:
Can you spot the Official Band Photographer in this photo (obviously not doing his job):
And the roll pretty much ended when the concert ended, containing almost nothing but shots of the band on the stage. If I’d had half a brain I probably would have saved some film for the reception afterwards and, oh, I don’t know, TAKEN PHOTOS OF PEOPLE. Hey, it was my first outing as Official Band Photographer; I was still figuring this out …
In spite of the fact that I was the Official Band Photographer and had shot two rolls of film during the visit by the DHS band, The Observer sent one of their own to cover the concert, and to photograph the event, and they did a hell of a better job than I would have done:
(although I was pretty sore that they didn’t even bother to ask me)
The next day, MHS Principal Dr. Henderson wrote a letter to Mr. Stephens (or, more correctly, he probably had his secretary type a letter to Mr. Stephens) congratulating the band on a job well done:
A couple of days later, previous Band Director Mr. Schubert sent a HANDWRITTEN letter to Mr. Stephens and the band, congratulating the band on a job well done:
Which of these two letters carries the greater emotional resonance, 26 years later? Yeah, you’re right.
I do not know what happened with the Danbury High School band after the concert. I know that there were Goodies in the Library, and there was some sort of post-concert hoo-hah at the Motel, but I didn’t go … after all, tomorrow was a school day. The DHS band departed Richmond on Friday, February 24, and arrived back in Ohio that afternoon, only to run into a snowstorm that ultimately closed down the schools the following week and dumped 14 inches of snow. Welcome back to the Buckeye State. This information I know from the letter that Mr. Price sent several days later:
(Check out the post-script and the little secret messages to Joe B. and Kelli G.)
The first combined joint concert involving the Model High School Band during the Mr. Stephens era was a resounding success (it also did not hurt that the visiting band was twice the size of the MHS band). The merging of the two bands allowed both bands to perform more intricate, deep and complex pieces that they normally would not be able to perform with less instrumentation. This joint concert would also be the last one in the Mr. Stephens era that would be hosted at Model High. The band would travel to perform with other bands over the next 23 years, but other bands would never again come to them.
This would also not be the last time that the Model High School Band members would see the DHS band … in four months time, there would be a visit to Ohio to march at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio with the DHS band — and we have the photographic evidence!
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (August 13th): Yeah yeah, say what, what, what, what, whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat.
There were 22 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll. Most of these shots are concert photos, although many of them have never been printed, and there is some insightful commentary to be found buried amongst the photos. Not much commentary, but there’s some info to be found in there that was not mentionedhere. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
On Wednesday, February 22, 1984, months of planning and rehearsal came down to the final stages when members of the Danbury High School Band of Lakeside, Ohio journeyed down the interstate to Richmond, Kentucky to perform a concert with the Model High School Band.
Our Band Director of the past two years, Mr. Stephens, apparently knew DHS Band Director Mr. Price from his sordid past, as Mr. Stephens’ brother lived in the area (and there were other connections but I cannot recall what they were at the moment). It was at this point that I believe I made the conscious decision that I was going to take all of my band photos and assemble a “Band Yearbook” for that year, hereby designating myself the “Official Band Photographer” (a title that I carefully wrote on my nametag that Mr. Stephens made all of us wear over the span of the DHS visit) and making plans to thoroughly document the next few days.
But first, for the 13th roll is a row, we have our Obligatory Peggy Photo:
This photo was taken after school on Wednesday, February 22, 1984, outside of Peggy’s locker on the second floor of the high school wing, a few minutes before me and the band members who constituted the “Welcoming Committee” were to pile into an EKU van and head over to the Thrifty Dutchman Motel in order to greet the DHS band members. Since the following roll of the film also covers the DHS band visit, there is NO Peggy photo on that roll, thus ending the streak. Oh well, it was entertaining while it lasted. But do not despair; the Peggy photos return with a bang in Episode #15.
It was around 3:30 in the afternoon when we met with the DHS band at the motel. In the above photo, Mr. Stephens chats with DHS Band Director Mr. Price. Their chartered bus can be seen in the background. The plans for the evening called for a dinner at a local restaurant. Even though they had just arrived, Mr. Stephens offered to take whoever could fit into the van on a short tour of Richmond:
I’ve already written at great length about this photo, so we’ll just move on to the next scene:
At about 6:00 that evening everyone gathered at the Western Steer, just up the street from the Motel. Keith and I (and Mr. Stephens, for that matter) arrived a little late, and most of the band members were already seated and had begun their meals. What I found surprising was how well both bands got along. I suppose Kentuckians and Ohioans are a friendly bunch, as everyone was talking and hanging out as if they had known each other for years. As evidence as to how lousy a documentarian I was, I did not manage to write down the names of any of these people.
Hey, it’s my first-ever shot of Mrs. Stephens, sitting at the Big Kids Table (too bad it’s really dark and I couldn’t get it any lighter without the light defects at the bottom completely obliterating everything else):
If there was anything else that happened that night AFTER the dinner, I have no recollection of it. The official record is that the DHS students were tired after their long journey and everyone retired back to the motel after dinner in order to rest up for the big day of rehearsals tomorrow, but, c’mon, these were high school kids, miles from home, with little supervision … surely, at least, there had to be some hanging out back at the motel. Whatever the case, Mister Official Band Photographer was not invited, which was probably a wise decision on their part …
Thursday, February 23, 1984: DHS band members convene upon Model High School for rehearsals all day long. We were quite thrilled by this, as we were excused from our regular classes for the entire day! How cool were we?
But first, there’s the matter of setting up the stage:
Finally, the stage was set, and Mr. Stephens’ blood pressure went down. Compare the overhead shot of the stage with the final shot and everyone in place — the first row of risers has been taken out in order to add more chairs, and the risers that had been stacked up in the back have been removed in order to fit the percussion equipment into place. Mr. Stephens had not been impressed that the janitorial staff had not set up the stage to his exact specifications, and that we had lost precious rehearsal time setting up the stage ourselves.
Let the rehearsals begin!
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (August 6th): DHS Invades Richmond, Part Two!
There were 22 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll, along with additional commentary. Lots of additional commentary. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
There is that excitement and feeling of discovery when one goes through old photographs and sees things that they never noticed before. I have been experiencing this feeling on many levels over the past several weeks, as I have been scanning and processing negatives that I have never printed or that I have only seen as thumbnail proof sheets. While going through the images for the next episode of the Tri-X Files (#13, now premiering Saturday, July 31st, due to this post distracting me), I came across this photo, taken on Wednesday, February 22, 1984 in Richmond, KY:
These people are students from Danbury High School of Lakeside, Ohio, in town for a concert with the Model High School Band. But that’s not important. What is important is that I spotted something in the window to the right, and so I cropped and enhanced that area to reveal:
And so, the question is: Where are we, and what gas station is that in the background?
First, I should mention the angle by which the photo was taken. As seen in my crude rendering to the left, I was sitting in the first row of seats in the EKU van. I then turned around and took the photo of the Ohioans sitting in the back three rows. The window on the “right,” therefore, is on the lefthand side of the vehicle. This is actually an important point, as this now places the view through the window as being on the lefthand side of the road (in relation to the vehicle). Without this piece of information, one might automatically assume that they are looking at something from the point of view of the righthand side of a vehicle, and on the righthand side of the road.
Now that we have established the perspective that created this shot, there are three specific aspects of this photo that need to be explored when considering its origination:
1. THE BIG GRAY THING. On the righthand side of the photo (represented by the gray square on my van graphic) is a big metal gray thing. Originally, I thought that this might be the back of a truck that would be in the left lane of the two lane road. But then I considered that it was also possible to be the side of the building or a large sign, as evidenced by what appears to be an electrical box on the side. What is important is that if the Big Gray Thing is part of a building, then we must be in a parking lot and not on the road.
2. THE ROCKS AND THE ROAD. The EKU Bypass was originally cut through a series of limestone hills (seen all throughout the Bluegrass State) and it was not uncommon to see many of these rockcuts while driving through Richmond (not quite so much these days, sadly, as everything has been graded and paved over). It would appear that the gas station is on one of these rockcut hills. There is the angle of the photo to consider – it is on the lefthand side of the van, which means that there are two more lanes between us and the rockcut, unless the van was driving on the wrong side of the road. However, if one considers the angle that this photo was taken along with foreshortening, then it is entirely possible that there are two lanes of road in that space.
3. THE LIGHTING. In the original photo, the subjects are backlit. It was sometime after 4:00pm in February, so the sun was on its way down in the west. Therefore, I am going to assume that the van was traveling eastbound while I turned around to take the photo and faced west, and so, also assuming that we were on the EKU Bypass, the gas station in question is on the “other” side of the road.
My original theory was that the photo was taken while we were still in the parking lot of the Thrifty Dutchman. In an earlier photo in this set, we see the bus from Danbury High School parked with the sun in the background, meaning that the band members were on the west side of the Motel (the left side on the map). I would assume that the EKU van would have also been parked on that side, and so I took the photo facing the west, and the gas station in the background would have been the one that was located next to the Motel, across the parking lot, and on a slightly higher elevation (hence the rockcuts). The Big Gray Thing could then be part of a wall or a utility pole next to the Motel. The significant problem with this theory was that the signs of the gas station were pointing to the left, which didn’t make any sense, as they should be pointing towards the main road — which would be on the right.
Looking at the gas station itself, one can see that there appears to be two pumps, an awning, a Big White Sign, with the gas station prices sign pointing to the left. The price sign appears to be in that red and orange style of the old Convenient Food Mart gas station, and it has all of the attributes as described earlier: On the “right” side of the road, a few pumps, and near the top of a hill. The only problem with this idea is that the Convenient gas station of our youth was located next door to a Dairy Queen, which had large windows and a high sloping roof … and the dark brown building behind the gas pumps certainly does not look like a DQ of any sort.
After far more pondering and analysis than any normal human should do on this subject, our crack team of investigators (okay, just me and Jeffrey Scott Holland) came to the conclusion that the Big Gray Thing is the back of a truck, we were on the EKU Bypass, and foreshortening was responsible for keeping us from seeing the two lanes on the other side of the road. Mr. Holland came up with the following diagrams to support this hypothesis:
Further enhancing just the view out of ALL the windows in the photo reveals the following:
Here we have a shot, via Google Maps Street View, of the EKU Bypass in modern times, placed at approximately the exact same spot where the van would have been (if this theory is correct):
And then, if we composite the two shots together, we get this:
(click on the image for a larger view)
And I would say that the mystery is 99% solved (the extra 1% is just in case I happen to be completely wrong). Using the white sign and the road on the right as reference points, you can see that the rockcuts line up, the base of the white sign lines up, and, most importantly, the rocks that were in that lefthand side window line up perfectly. The brown building that may or may not be part of the Dairy Queen could possibly be a building that was on the other side of the DQ, and ended up merged in the shadows of the original backlit photograph.
After this, I’m not sure if I will be looking at the backgrounds of my photographs as closely as before …
This roll features photos taken on Friday, February 17 and Monday, February 20, 1984. Continuing from the previous roll, this set starts off with photos from the Model High School Boys Varsity Basketball game of Friday evening, and then goes to shots of a live band performing at the Model Middle School Valentine’s Dance held on the same evening (and at the same time). The rest of the roll consists of shots taken on that Monday during break and Third Period English in an attempt to finish off the roll so that the band performance photos could be developed for potential submission to the school newspaper.
Five guys from our high school got together and decided to form a band. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no recollection as to the name of this band, and I am not completely certain of the identities of all the members. I know for sure that Ranjan M. was the lead singer, and Aaron F. was the bass player, and that Dan S. and Tom D. were also members, both on guitar, but I’m not sure who was on the drums … Dave S., perhaps? Their style of music was probably in the vein of hard rock/heavy metal; everyone in the band (except Ranjan) rocked the big fuzzy hair that is always associated with mid-1980s rockers. Somehow, they had managed to get a gig performing a set at this dance. I saw the chance for a photo op and another submission to The Observer, so after pep band was over, I walked out of the gym and into the grill, flashing my “press” pass to get through the door (actually, I just said that I was there to take photos for the newspaper, and the people at the door knew that I wasn’t in Middle School anyway).
First of all, like all Middle School dances, it was dark. The windows that made up the walls to The Grill had been covered with black paper, and there were Valentine’s Day hearts all over the place. The band had set themselves up in a corner, dramatically lit with spotlights on the floor. This was the first time, ever, that a “live” band had performed at a Middle School dance, and so the last thing that the kids were doing was dancing to the music … no, they were all gathered, like a gigantic pit mob, in front of the band, watching the fellows play their pretty songs. Because the crowd was so thick, and because of my inherent shyness, I lurked in the back, standing on a chair to peer over the crowd, and took my photos. Like all of my long-distance infinity shots, my plan was to enlarge the photos in the dark room. I was hoping that my use of 400 speed film coupled with the ability to set a long exposure with my camera would yield usable photos. To my credit, the shots did not come out underexposed … but due to the distance, the faces of the band members were virtually indistinguishable. Amusingly, I am able to identify the band members by their HAIR.
Out of the seven shots that I took at the dance, the one on the right is the only decent one, and it is the last shot that I took, as I finally moved away from the back of the room and nudged my way towards the front to get the closest shot of the night. At least you can make out the faces of the band members in this one. From left to right, there’s Aaron, Ranjan (wearing a headband and a Thriller-esque jacket), Dan (I’m pretty sure, based on the hair) and Tom (I’m pretty sure, also based on the hair). You can see the hand of the guy playing the drums — not sure if it was David, Dan’s brother, the same David who was an occasional member of the high school band’s percussion section (unfortunately, he’s not visible at all in any of the other shots). Had this photo been in color, it would have been a groovy album cover. Nonetheless, this photo was still way too blurry for newspaper reproduction; I didn’t even bother submitting it, and so, no newspaper article was written about the dance, and therefore I have no references that list the name of the band. Maybe someone else will remember after this is posted.
On the following Monday, I was pretty anxious to finish off the roll so that I could develop the film and print the shots from the performance, completely oblivious to the disappointment that lay ahead (although I knew that there was a chance that they might not have all come out, but I was fairly optimistic that my settings had been correct). And so, the last eight shots on the roll were taken during break and Third Period English, in and around Mrs. Combs’ room:
Tanya flinging her books around, or desperately trying to avoid the camera? And a bunch of other people standing around, waiting for break to be over (click on the image for more notes on this shot).
The streak continues with the lone Peggy shot on this roll. Peggy is also desperately trying to avoid the camera, almost to the point of saying “Look, I know that you want to get at least one shot per roll, but ENOUGH ALREADY!”
The last four photos are shots of Keith, goofing around. I must have been REALLY desperate to finish off the roll.
This particular set is subtitled “The Rude Roll,” because there were a number of rude interruptions in this batch:
Here we have a shot of the second floor stairwell of the high school wing, just outside of Mrs. Combs’ room. As this area has been established in previous photos as being Kevin and Tanya’s favorite make-out spot, they were probably the subject of the original shot … that is, until someone (I do not recall who) popped out of Mrs. Combs’ room and shoved their hand in front of the camera.
This candid cheer shot (taken at the basketball game on Friday, February 17, 1984) was rudely interrupted by the streaks caused by either bad film or areas being exposed to light. It’s too bad, it would have been a good shot otherwise.
And here Randy H. rudely interrupts my shot of the basketball players and cheerleaders offering congratulatory handshakes at the end of the game. I remember that he just walked right into the frame, saw me out of the corner of his eye, turned and made the face. Darn you, Randy!
If I had been doing my Image of the Week feature at the time, this photo definitely would have made it in:
This is probably one of my favorite photographs taken in my freshman year. I really like the angle (not having taken very many photos like this), but also the contrast of the girls’ uniforms against the hardwood floor, how their shadows fall, and the overall lighting of this shot. One of the few photos that I took on this roll that did not require any modifications after scanning.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (July 30th): DHS Invades Richmond, Part One!
There were 21 shots on this roll. You can see all of them at the
Flickr set for this roll, along with additional commentary. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
This roll is a bit of a mystery. There is no proof sheet for this roll. Out of the first 13 shots, frames 2-7 are either overexposed or were otherwise damaged in the developing process, so there are only seven shots on this roll. All of the shots after the first 13 were either not shot or the film was otherwise exposed because the film is blank. These photos were taken between February 14 and 17, 1984 (more on how this was determined later on). There were basketball games on those two dates, and I know for sure that there are two different games on this roll because the cheerleaders are wearing different uniforms (as will be evidenced in the following images). The next roll (featured in the next episode) also features shots from the game on the 17th, along with photos from a middle school dance that was taking place at the exact same time, which might be the reason that I aborted this roll halfway through (although that sort of behavior does seem inconsistent with my photographic habits up to this point).
The roll starts off with this shot of Mr. Stephens, sitting in the balcony of the Shirley Kearns Gymnasium, baton in hand, waiting for the Junior Varsity Basketball game to end. This was taken on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14, 1984, before the Boys Varsity game against Western Anderson. I have never been able to successfully print this photo as it always reproduced too dark, and I could not adjust the contrast to make his face visible (until now, obviously) — I had no idea that he even had a baton in his hand! Note the lines that cut across the image … this was not the first time, nor the last, that I would experience scratches on the negatives during the developing process, caused by microscopic foreign objects in the developing tank or the film not being properly wound onto the reel. Also note the extremely washed-out area to the right: the next six shots after this one are mostly vaporized. There are some faint outlines in the images, but none of them could be detected by the scanner. I am not sure if the film was bad, if it was exposed (which is not possible without the photos after this spot being ruined), or if something just went wrong when the film was developed … or if I just had the wrong settings on my camera (which would not be the first time, either). I really wish I could remember exactly WHAT I was shooting on those six frames … or maybe it’s better that I never know.
Frame #8 is this rather silly novelty shot. Keith and I were watching the game (and the cheerleaders, heh) from our vantage position of the doorway to the gymnasium, right next to the row of bleachers. Keith had the bright idea of composing a photo to make it appear that a gigantic hand was coming through the roof of the gym, reaching down to grab one of the cheerleaders. Of course, in a shot like this, either the hand or the girl is going to be out of focus, and there you go. Note the bright white area to the left of the photo — this is the last remnant of the ruined frames of film between this shot and the first one on the roll.
Next, we have a frozen moment in time, where a cheer routine is captured in the middle of the action. The three girls in the front are halfway through their jump, the next three girls are about to take their jump, the two girls in the back will be jumping in a second (there are actually three girls in the back but I cut off one of them). The image from left to right looks like a series of stop-motion animation frames, which was certainly completely unintentional.
And here we have a photo of … a wall. It appears to be a wall from inside the gymnasium, probably in the entranceway to the gym floor or even the stairwell to the second floor balcony. Judging by the angle, I am fairly certain that I accidentally hit the shutter on my camera while heading back to the Pep Band section. My camera did not have a shutter lock and so this sort of thing was not uncommon. What I would usually do in order to prevent this from happening was to not advance my film after taking a shot (because pressing the shutter without advancing the film would do nothing), but apparently I did not do so this time. Interestingly, this shot is actually more or less in focus.
Every roll in this series has had at least one Peggy shot, and this roll is no exception. This streak finally gets broken in [SPOILER ALERT] episode #14, so keep that in mind. This is the sole Peggy shot on this roll, and it is the most important shot on this roll, because it helped to identify the proper date that these photos were taken. Note the heart-shaped pendant that Peggy is wearing — I gave her that necklace the previous day, February 14, and so this photo must have been taken on or after February 15, 1984. Originally, I had the two basketball games on this roll as taking place on January 13 and 24 (discussed in much detail in episode #9), but this was before I had scanned in this image and enlarged it and then noticed the necklace, which placed this photo as having been shot at least on or after February 14th.
Back to the basketball game. With the Peggy shot acting as a separator, and since the cheerleaders are wearing different uniforms, this basketball game must take place on Friday, February 17, 1984, against Mercer County. There are more photos from this same game on the next roll, featured in the next episode, which I know for sure were taken on February 17th, as it was the same date as a middle school dance at which I took some photos.
And here we have the last shot on the roll, number 13. After this shot, everything goes blank for no apparent reason. Looking at the frame, there do not appear to be any white-outs or washed-out areas that would indicate that there was something wrong with the developing process or the film itself (in fact, the whole frame is pretty much defect-free, making it one of the clearest shots on the entire roll). It is possible that I decided to abort the roll and put in a fresh roll for the photos from the dance. I don’t know. I’m drawing a blank on this one.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (July 23rd): Rock and Roll, 1984 Style!
There were seven out of 13 exposed shots on this roll, out of a potential 21 (as far as I can tell). All of the shots on this roll were featured in this episode, but you can see larger versions of them in the
Flickr set, along with expanded explanations and more useless information. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
This roll has a little bit of everything for everybody: Peggy, Keith, cheerleader shots, band shots, third period English … the only thing that it is missing is the obligatory Tanya photo. Oh well, can’t please everybody at once.
As you can see by the proof sheet, there continued to be problems with the developing process — note the washed out area running alongside the bottom of the entire roll as well as portions that are either washed out or damaged by the negatives overlapping. We were still trying to work out the kinks. It would take a few more rolls.
As a result of the poor developing and the bad proof sheet, I never really looked at the first strip of negatives. I didn’t really know what images existed in the first three shots until I scanned in these negatives and began processing them. There were quite a few “surprises” that revealed themselves as I began to modulate the brightness and contrast …
The first shot is that of a television in a dark room. I really do not recall why I took a photo of the television screen in a dark room (other than being the first shot on the roll and there was the possibility that it would not come out). The greater mystery is when the photo was taken. The basketball game featured on this roll definitely took place on Tuesday, February 7, 1984 (more later on the deductive process behind this particular date). The previous roll ended with shots taken during third period English on Monday, February 6, 1984. There are two band classes on the roll before the basketball game shots, which tells us that those photos were taken on the 6th and 7th, and so the first photo on the roll had to be taken on February 6th, either during third period English, fourth period Biology, or fifth period Health Science. But … the program being shown on the screen does not look like something that would be shown in any of those classes! In fact, it looks like a scene from “General Hospital.” Also, the angle of the screen is rather odd — almost all of the televisions used in the Model High School classrooms at the time were placed upon tall carts (seen in the background in this shot). I seriously doubt that I will ever discover the truth behind this photo.
The next “surprise” photo is this one of Peggy, in fifth period Health Science, casually reading her book with some interest and doing her best to ignore the camera. This would have been a nice shot had it been in focus and not washed out by the developing process.
The next photo, however, was the biggest surprise, because I had no idea that it existed, and absolutely no recollection of taking it. These were my friends from eighth grade (clockwise from lower left): Shay Q., Andy T., Chris S. and Josh M. This photo must have been taken between fifth and sixth period on Monday, February 6, 1984. It was a genuine surprise to see this photo, and if it weren’t for the light streaks and other glitches on the negative itself, this would be a fantastic photo.
The fourth and final “surprise” photo is this one of Neil J. “directing” the band. Mr. Stephens had to step out of band practice for a few minutes and he passed the baton on to Neal J., for no explainable reason. I don’t know; maybe there was an explanation, but I never heard it. I did remember taking this photo and, in fact, used this image for Neil’s “portrait” in the Band Yearbook.
It was at about this time that I made the conscious decision that I was going to produce a yearbook for the high school band. I had been taking photos for several weeks and, other than the occasional contribution to the school newspaper, didn’t have any other reason to be taking photos (other than, of course, for my Peggy collection). I had always been disappointed in the lack of coverage of the high school band in the school yearbook, although, to be fair, the band was only one of many student organizations, and it seems a little silly to be upset about something as trivial as that. But I felt that the band needed a commemorative publication, and I had the film, and I had the idea, and so I decided to go for it, in spite of the fact that there were only about three more months left in the school year. But I already had photos from the fall concert and the holiday parade, and some random shots from pep band performances, and so all I had to do was to take some photos from rehearsals as well as get some individual “portraits” and that would be enough material for my yearbook.
So now I had a purpose, so to say. And the band class photography began …
Believe it or not, I was able to extract three portrait shots out of the above two photos.
This roll was originally identified as appearing later on in the month of February, but it was after scanning and enlarging the image to the right that I came to the realization that the opponents in the basketball game were from Estill County — you can barely make out the words on the black jerseys, but you can see where they would fit — and, according to the pep band schedule, that game took place on February 7, 1984.
Pep band would go like this: The band would set up 30 minutes before the game started. 15 minutes before the start of the game, the band would go through some tunes, for the purpose of entertaining the crowd as they entered the gymnasium. Five minutes before the jump ball, we would play the fight song as the team was officially introduced, coming out of the locker room. Then we would play the national anthem, go through the fight song one more time for the cheerleaders, and then the game would begin. We were basically allowed to do whatever we wanted as long as we were back in place with three minutes left to go in the second quarter, for the halftime performance. Keith and I had been spending our time during the first and second quarters in the balcony, watching the game, but we had slowly begun to migrate down to the floor level, where we positioned ourselves against the wall in the entranceway.
At this time, I had come to the realization that the shutter on my camera was virtually silent. It made a soft click when pressed, but that sound was very hard to hear, and only if you were listening for it. And since I did not use a flash (didn’t have one for the camera, and it was 400 speed film), I discovered that many people did not know that I was taking their picture, as either the flash or the loud click of the shutter would give away a photographer’s presence. And so I had worked up enough courage to take some cheerleader shots that were a lot closer than some of my earlier efforts:
I attempted to pitch these candid shots to the newspaper and yearbook, but they didn’t bite, even though I thought they were pretty darn good (the light defects were probably the primary reason for their rejection).
Other highlights on this roll:
Hey, it’s Peggy, zoned out for a second! Hey, it’s Tracy G. in the upper lefthand corner! Hey, that’s an ancient projector on the table (it was ancient back in 1984)!
Hey, it’s Jonathan B! It’s the first photo that I ever took of the son of the doctor who brought me into this world. It took a lot of processing to bring this one to light (so to say) …
Hey, it’s the guy who was the observer in our third period English class whose name I absolutely do not recall!
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (July 16th): Light defects, along with many other contributing factors, result in a roll that doesn’t really exist! But we’re going to do an entry on it anyway …
There were 22 photos on this roll, although one of them (#13) was damaged while developing, and so I didn’t bother to scan it in (all you can see in the shot is the edges of the gymnasium floor). You can see the other 21 images in the
Flickr set for the roll, along with more insightful (cough) commentary. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
We have finally come upon a set of negatives that currently do not exist. These negatives have either been misplaced or lost sometime in the last 26 years. The only proof of their existence is a proof sheet … and only half of a proof sheet, at that. While assembling the first Band Yearbook (a project whose origins have yet to be discussed but is coming very soon), I oftentimes cannibalized proof sheets for small photos, rather than return to the darkroom and properly print them, and this proof sheet is one of those victims (I never went back and reprinted this one). As a result, the first half of the roll is completely gone, and all we have of the second half are the photos contained on that sheet, and so all of the images in this set are either scanned from existing prints or enlarged from that proof sheet itself.
While processing the images for what was originally intended for this episode, I noticed something in one of the photos (which I had not noticed until the image was scanned) that made me realize that the date that I had assigned to that roll was incorrect. Going back through the negatives and notes, I came to the conclusion that the set of images that are in this set, originally identified as being taken between February 3 and 7, were actually taken between January 13 and February 3 (and the images that were originally slated for this episode were actually from February 14 through 17). The primary method of identification for this roll are the fact that the cheerleaders’ uniforms, as seen in the first and third shots on the proof sheet, are different, indicating that those photos were taken at two different basketball games, and I only went to basketball games that the pep band participated in. Following the Homecoming game of January 6 (featured in Tri-X Files Episode #7), the band performed at games on January 13th and 24th, and February 3rd, 7th, 14th and 17th. I know that I have photos from the games of February 7th, 14th and 17th (which will be seen in upcoming episodes #10, #11 and #12), but the last two games of January and the first game of February were still not identified. This roll has at least two games on it; there might have been a third game, at the beginning of the roll (as noted in the last episode), but I will not know for sure without the original negatives.
It does seem a little odd, after all the massive amounts of photography over the past few weeks, that I would suddenly go through a drought of approximately four weeks with very few shots. It is possible that there was a film shortage at the time; Mrs. Isaacs, my supplier, would occasionally have to re-order the Tri-X film, and I am sure that my increased demand did not help her with her inventory. I may have put this roll into my camera knowing that I had to conserve the film. The fact that the last nine shots on the roll were apparently taken all on the same day (most of them during third period English) seems to indicate that I was trying to finish out the roll before the next big photo shoot, and perhaps fresh film was in stock by then.
In conclusion, I am going to assume that the first batch of shots on the roll (which no longer exist) were taken January 13 and 24, 1984; if the last batch of basketball shots were taken at the game on Friday, February 3, 1984, then the last nine shots were very likely taken on Monday, February 6, 1984:
This is probably the first photo that I have taken of Shay in which he hasn’t been a total goofball. This is in Mr. Morrow’s second period Social Studies, a class for freshmen and sophomores and one particular eighth grade kid.
It was the break period between second and third period, and Keith was taking a “nap” on the sofa in the back of Mrs. Combs’ room. I snuck up on him, finger on the shutter, and took the photo right when he opened his eyes with a big grin. Ah, so young and so goofy, back then.
Kevin and Tanya were making out hanging out at their favorite spot at the top of the stairwell on the east side of the high school wing. I approached with the camera, and they turned away … but I took the photo anyway. I was never able to make a decent print of this shot until now as the original negative was way overexposed.
Obligatory Peggy shot. One of two on this roll, both of which were taken roughly ten minutes apart. Like the previous photo, the original negative was quite overexposed and I have never been able to, until now, with modern digital technology, produce a good print.
Aaron and Keith at the back table in Mrs. Combs’ third period English class. Aaron holds the latest issue of Musician magazine with a cover story on Rush. Note the University of Kentucky Basketball 1983-84 poster on the wall behind them.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (July 9th): February 1984! More band, cheerleader and Peggy shots, all on one roll! Face it, true believer, this one has it all!
As far as I can tell, there were originally 24 photos on this roll, which makes it the longest roll to date. You can see the ones that still exist in the
Flickr set for the roll. Plus, all of the sets so far can now be found in
one collection.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images above to get a larger view.
Facebook readers: Click on “View Original Post” to see the images formatted the way they were meant to be.
