Pop Pop

My Pop Pop passed away, he was 90 years old. I will be heading East to pay my respects. Snowboarding will have to be put on pause.

My passion for photography grew from spending weekends with him as a youngster. He would drive me around parts of Baltimore and Ellicott City looking for interesting photographs. We would go to abandoned waterfronts, shipyards, railroad yards, old forts, cemeteries, etc... looking for the next photograph. Half the fun was listening to his old WWII and depression era stories on the drive from one locale to another. He grew up in a Baltimore much different than the one of today. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the past and his childhood.

He taught me everything about photography long before digital cameras were even invented. I would spend hours and hours in his darkroom learning how to develop film and making prints. He was like a professor and I was the student. When I was in 5th grade he drove me up to New York City to go to a photography convention. At the convention Kodak released TMAX film and I got one of the first rolls to shoot.

The thing he would always drill in my head was "The key to a good photograph is the photographer's eye, not his camera." I actually went through a phase where I would buy used crappy cameras from the thrift stores and see what kind of photographs I could make with the $5 dollar cameras. However he always made sure I had a working camera and was always generous with giving me his older camera when he got a new one. Recently I enjoyed coming home to visit and showing him my recent photographs. Thanks Pop Pop for the memories and the passion!