what fun !!
By peggy gardner
5 May 2009
fifteen years ago I left the washington dc area after teaching old school photography and working as a full time photo journalist for a number of years...having four or five hundred photos published...
off I ran to arizona, another land, another mind set...another world.....not much color and a different ph in the water...hmmmm
then things changed....
darkroom chems stored in a shed got up to 200 degrees and everything imploded and exploded at the same time I think...selenium is not pretty in this form........then...my all my coveted photographic paper (zone VI "brilliant" fiberbased...omg) exposed itself... my film cans leaked/baked in the relentless sunbeaming all the damn time, things curled up and blew away... my darkroom got shoved into a closet and another life evolved...I put down my camera...
for 14 years I worked my ASS off in arizona,as a bankruptcy analyst then a webmaster for worldcom.....learned coppersmithing (az is the copperstate) as a hobby / release.... when I was laid off from wcom I began working as a full time coppersmith...never looked back.
now I am back in the dc area after the sudden death of my oldest son, doug, aged 29 where my remaining three sons and two grandson live...and I'm coping with the change..
I thought I could get back into teaching b&w darkroom, old school medium format, infrared, polaroid image transfer workshops, you know, all the old fun stuff, BOY WAS I WRONG.
the schools only wanted me to teach coppersmithing because they ONLY teach digital photography now...and ... digital happened while I wasn't paying attention....
anyway, last year a dear west coast nut/efriend of mine suggested jpgmag to learn digital and get into the technology so I could return to teaching photography again...
so this is where i"ve been...learning digital photography and software manipulations...little tips here and there...very dear relationships made here and there...
but as a digital virgin...it has been a little more intimate and interpersonal for me than usual.
so alas...I have in two weeks my first digital photography class. wish me luck. what if no one shows up.?
11 responses
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Dorothy Menosky gave props (5 May 2009):
I like this. You've got my vote.
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diana anderson gave props (5 May 2009):
great story! congrats on your teaching assignment!! have a ball!!!
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petey whitelaw gave props (5 May 2009):
this was just too good. im in.
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Karen Zimmerman gave props (6 May 2009):
I love it. VOTED!
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Sonia Adam Murray gave props (6 May 2009):
Peggy you have had a challenging and interesting life and it sounds as if you have fallen back into your niche, congratulations. I voted.
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Litz Go gave props (7 May 2009):
you definitely will do great in this new endeavor, PG. You have my confidence and yeah, you rocks!
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Lindsay gave props (8 May 2009):
you'll do fine. and people will show up. you rock! i'm so glad i met you here. :) and this is a def. yes. needs to be published! :)
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peggy gardner said (18 May 2009):
thanks, I was so excited to hear the class was full !!!
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J. Harris Blacklist gave props (19 Jun 2009):
Awesomenessnessnesssnessnessness!!!
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Nelson Campbell gave props (30 Sep 2009):
Dang Peggy - I just saw this! We need an update!
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Michele Randell gave props (18 Nov 2009):
What a great story Peggy and images to match ! I hope your students have matched your infectiousness for life and embracing the new !
