Accidental treasure, 1975

[plugsnpixels]

I shot this photo as a young teen in 1975 on the way to my very first newspaper photo assignment. I had to walk across town to get to the location, and along the way I saw this kid down in the river scooping up fish under the bridge I was crossing.

The camera I was using was a department store display model (Argus SLR) that I bought at a discount and which was lacking the shutter speed and ASA dial plates – so I had to memorize 1000/500/250/125 (etc.) on the shutter speed dial and since I couldn’t use the built in meter without being able to set a film speed, I had to use the “sunny f/16” rule to set exposure.

This shot was taken with Tri-X in broad daylight so I used 250/16. And as a lucky accident (for me and the kid) the sun on the water turned into stars!

I won a local photo contest with this image and got a 10-speed bike. 45 years later, I colorized it and added focus and vignette effects.

Retouched and original image attached.

[ST1]

It's nice to revisit images from the past, your recent processing has added to your bike winning original. Well done

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Peter!

[Tom Barry]

It was a winner then and now.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Tom! Can I get a car this time? ;-)

[lovelife65]

Hi Mike, what a wonderful image! You were a very talented teen, well deserved win of the bike.
Thank you for sharing.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Sharon!

Here's letter I got at the time from Penn State (a family acquaintance seems to have sent the image along to a friend there).

[pschlute]

Lovely story and great image.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Peter!

[lovelife65]

Thanks Sharon!

Here's letter I got at the time from Penn State (a family acquaintance seems to have sent the image along to a friend there).

WOW, I love this letter. So cool that they recognize such character in a person. Congrats.