Author: J
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Spring in the Sun I believe Billy and/or Gary snapped these photos. We were at the Liberty Track Meet. I had ridden there with Aaron in his Dodge Dart listening to Alice Cooper’s “Billion Dollar Babies” album on the 8-track. “Jimmy Spots a UFO” Was the yearbook caption for this photo. The disc can be…
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Each spring, the Clemson School of Engineering’s would host an Open House for high school students to learn about the disciplines and options available for prospective students. This photo was taken from Fort Hill Street, next to the Dillard Building, looking toward the stadium. At time, there were no stadium upper decks. All the disciplines…
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A Break after Homework Having transferred into Clemson and losing over a semester of credits, 18 hour course loads were required for the next several semesters. That didn’t leave much time for idle pursuits. My two were skateboarding and photography. I’d snap a few photos now and then, trying to capture the moment. These are…
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Where Light Met Chemistry In 1975, John and I regularly occupied the darkroom. He did most of the work while I watched and learned. By ’76, John had graduated, leaving Billy, Gary and me to pick up the reins. I was spending three hours a day working in the darkroom with a cassette player filling…
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Photography in the Dark The Photo Forum training from two years prior had emphasized composition. My mentor John piqued my interest in the technical aspects. I read everything I could get my hands on, and tried to apply what I’d learned from John. “Power Flick” John gave me my first intro to “painting with light”.…
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Olin Mills Photography Training During the summer of 1974, my school paid to send John and me to five days of Olin Mills photography training in preparation for working on the yearbook. Each morning, we’d have a classroom session covering a few techniques, such as “the rule of thirds”, using depth of field, and maximizing…
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Clemson Reflection Pond It was the evening of October 2, 1978 and we were returning back to Johnstone from the “high rise” side of campus, passing by the ampitheater. There were several people looking at a bulldozer, that a few minutes prior, had been driven into the library reflection pond. That Night In the October…
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An Italian Harley-Davidson This was my first bike, an Aermacchi Harley-Davidson Sprint SS 350. It had an unusual engine that was similar to half of a Ducati. 6 Volt electrics meant that night riding was best done by a full moon. It had led a hard life and the previous owner had “chopped” it, which…
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A Weekend with Me Droogs We met up after work on a Friday and headed to Ken’s grandma’s vacant house in Kissimmee, 8 hours away. After midnight when we arrived in the area, Ken was reading the directions his grandma had written: “take the first co. road”. He was reading it as “take the first…
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A Story Behind Each I was fortunate enough to have three bikes in my garage. Keeping up inspections, tags, insurance, and maintenance on three bikes was a bit of a burden. But, I really liked the smooth powerful V4’s and each bike had a unique character. Baby Bear and Mama Bear Interceptors My coworker Mike’s…
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An Outing with the Southeast Sportbike Association It was the early days of the Internet and I’d discovered a, now defunct, group out of Atlanta that shared a newsletter and had occasional group rides. My buddy Mike and I accompanied them on a trip to Deal’s Gap with an overnight stay, dinner, and a VHS…
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Blue Oyster Cult ConcertSeptember 9th, 1979 Blue Oyster Cult were early adopters of laser technology for concert lighting. The shows were visually stunning and complimented the audio experience nicely. Back in those days, bands/promoters/venues weren’t so restrictive about folks bringing their cameras and I was able to capture several photos of this show. This is…
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It’s a line from the 1974 Blue Oyster Cult song “Astronomy” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0im3V8HlU) from the album “Secret Treaties”. The stanza goes like this: It’s the nexus of the crisisAnd the origin of stormsJust the place to hopelesslyEncounter time and then came me I discovered BOC’s live fourth album in 1975, “On Your Feet, or On Your…
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The above photo was taken in 1975 at an old abandoned house not far from here. My buddy Vince and I were out snapping photos and getting accustomed to a couple of old cameras. I was using a Rolleiflex twin-lens camera that was used at waist level, looking down at the viewfinder. It took 120…
