Because of ice hockey. . .
From Kodak memories of Bobby Clarke…
As a teen living in the suburbs of Baltimore, I loved to accompany my Dad and the neighbor’s dad and daughter to minor league ice hockey games downtown at the Baltimore Civic Center. Hockey games became my favorite social activity as a teen, especially when we sat at rink end and got a close-up view of the players! Of course, I took my camera which at that time was a Kodak. It preserved memories, but I wasn’t thrilled with the quality. I needed a better camera. I purchased my first 35 mm camera, a Pentax, along with a mid-range telephoto lens. Remembering that these were the days before automatic focus, the speed of hockey and the indoor lighting made it difficult for me to get more than one or two good shots out of an entire roll! I thought that if I could only develop my own film, then I could pick and choose which ones to print. My search to learn film developing and printing led me to the Maryland Institute College of Art. By this time, a few years after graduating high school, I was working full time, but was able to take advantage of the evening classes MICA offered. My photos of ice hockey improved, but more importantly, the courses I took at Maryland Institute broadened my perspective and vision, introducing me to photographic and artistic concepts that steered me into an entirely different direction. Little did I know that because of ice hockey and the Maryland Institute, photography would become a lifelong passion.
…To nature series in black and white I printed while at MICA
