Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
After last week's diaries and their almost-200 photos, I figured the last thing I needed was more picture-taking-and-diary-writing. However Horn, the local camera store, had scheduled their latest "camera caravan" and I have enjoyed and learned at these events before, so I added another evening of shooting. My enthusiasm for making a diary lagged a bit, but here I am because, if I don't document something, it didn't happen. Still, if you are not interested, that's OK.
We would be shooting at the Fresno County Historical Museum, located nearby at the county fairgrounds. This not-so-grand facility reminds me of the village museums we use to stop at in rural Europe, places that collected pots, shards, and old farm tools, placed them in glass cabinets, and declared it a local history museum. Fair enough.
Inside our village museum, a highlight was the reassembled county courthouse from the early 20th Century. It was easy to imagine a stern judge, stuffy lawyers, and a dozen jurymen sitting in these same chairs. (One of the displays pointed out that juries were indeed mostly white men. Women were not considered tough enough to hear disturbing testimony and brown people just were not accepted. Not really the great old days.)
The displays did, however, pay considerable attention to the immigrants who built (and are building) Fresno county. Italian farmers built farms and joined together to make a farmer-serving bank, later called the Bank of America.
Armenians, Germans, Mexicans, and southern Blacks also developed communities in and around Fresno in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Each group seemed to follow the same path: first, as farm workers, then as small farm owners. Later, some were able to expand to land development and other businesses.
In the early 1900s, there was a substantial community of Japanese farmers and a twenty-block "Japantown" serving their community. Later, most lost their farms and businesses in the WWII confinement. Despite that, many Japanese Americans served in that and subsequent wars. I was glad to see this dark history given prominence.
The arrival of Hmong after the Viet Nam war was also explained. They had served as US-allies in that conflict and many had lost their farms and villages, becoming yet another wave of refugees. About half the Hmong refugees ended up in Fresno County.
I found all these displays of past immigrations gave context and hope for the more-current immigration for Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas. I hope Americans can remember the benefit immigration has always provided this country. Enough politics.
The rest of my museum picture-taking consisted of shiny objects. First, was a 1917 Seagraves pumper, all shined and decorated. It looked like it could still lead the Fourth of July parade, but that emergency breather looks questionable. (Red is a photographers favorite color. It will always get the eye's attention.)
There was also a handful of shiny cars, motorcycles, and associated automotive neon signs. Each of these vehicles had a story, but I was not taking notes, just trying pictures.
A major draw of these Horn Photo Clicking Caravans is the inclusion of "professional" models. The Horn guys do a good job of informal coaching and the models will follow direction. This wonderful practice for getting those family pictures correct, although I'm not sure THOSE folks are as direct-able.
Our male model for the evening was John, who is also one of the "darkroom" crew at the camera store. I'm afraid my lighting technique was not so good. Too much forehead glare. Oh well, a learning opportunity.
Two of our models were also dancers from the local Thai community (I think.) The part of my practice where I took pictures with a bright, artificial light did not work out well. Again. The dance was easier to capture. Probably a lesson here too.
I think when the shooting went outside, everyone had more fun. There is something about evening light that makes camera people perk up. I'm not sure my model-pictures were all that good, but it was more practice.
By the end of the evening, I had had a chance to experiment with a new lens (won't buy - yet), chat with photo-enthusiasts, and learned how hard lighting models can be. Hopefully, all this will improve my family pictures and pictures of the next village museum we visit.
Not much else planned for the week. I probably need to create some sort of camera practice. Stay tuned.
John (and Marianne)