MY FIRST MODEL

My grandmother, Letteria (Lilly, my father’s mother) and her dog Estrellita, 1969

My grandmother and I were very close. She came to New York from Sicily via Ellis Island in 1912 and worked in the garment district. Her work ethic was intense. She would work all day and then bring home extra work to have done before the next day.

This was taken with my first real camera, a Petri 35mm Rangefinder.  I was 9 years old at the time. I was always pointing my camera and focussing to see what things looked like through the camera and to practice my speed at making the decisive moment. Film was expensive so I only had film in the camera about 25% of the time. 

In the early years, my grandmother didn’t like having her picture taken so she was happy that I focussed my attention on the dogs. Mostly, my dogs were my models and I have too many pictures of them on the contact sheets. 

Occasionally, I would point my lens at my grandmother and she would block the lens with her hand.  But, she never knew when I had film in my camera and when I didn’t, so this made her a bit apprehensive. I might of taken this picture under false pretenses stating that I didn’t have film in the camera but I truthfully don’t remember. Either way, you can see the skepticism on her face.

Thank you for all the support on the Dek Unu Fine Photography magazine project,  It was a lot of fun and we had an amazing response. Inquiries have come from all over the planet, even Thailand which is a country I always wanted to visit.

In future posts, I will be sharing images along with a backstory about my encounters with some of the subjects of my images.