Lone Tree At Reservoir

From the archives.... bored after a winter snow in February of 1993 I went looking for images.. Drove by the old city reservoir and saw this shot.... which was totally monochromatic.

Drove home and got the view camera and set up for this shot. Took two exposures, unrecorded. Toyo View 180mm lens, T-Max 400 4x5 sheet film. Taken around 3pm with low hanging clouds. Fence is now overgrown and this tree is long gone. I still love film and the simple shots. There is a Pepsi can on the fence toward the right which I desperately wanted to get rid of... but didn't want to track in the snow to do it. I could remove it digitally, but it's a part of history now..... in many ways things were a lot slower just that short time ago.

Gene the Barber

In a row of shops across from the Gladstone Theatre between Elmwood and Lawn Gene the Barber plied his trade for five decades. One of the nicest men you'd ever want to meet his passions were golf, sports and family. I started going to him when he worked in the same barber shop back in the 50s... then it was "Sal's Barbershop." Later, Gene bought the shop and reduced it from four chairs to two. Mike Morris was his long-time second chair.

The haircuts were always perfect and, since the barbershop never changed in decor, it was a little trip back in time whenever a haircut was necessary. Young men called him "Mean Gene the Cutting Machine" and were so loyal to him that they would come in from Grain Valley and places further.

His daughter always decorated the shop for Christmas with a tree in the window. Only two subjects were forbidden in the shop.... politics and religion.... see... he was also wise.

Gene, through his front window, watched over the years as the Gladstone went from movie theatre to roller rink to church to beauty school... but, while it changed, he never did.

Above, I talked him into posing for me a couple years before his retirement.... barber chair and golf club... that was the man.

Toyo view camera, 90mm lens, t-max 400 4x5 black and white film, exposure unrecorded. Available light.