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Happy Halloween! Meet Jack…

Each year on Halloween I drag out Jack. Let me tell you a little something about Jack. He’s actually a photograph I took in 1974, for one of my photography classes when I attended Cal State University of Fullerton. Back in those days we didn’t have digital cameras, and we certainly didn’t have Photoshop. That meant when we put a pumpkin on a guy’s head, we REALLY put a pumpkin on the guy’s head!

The good natured college student behind the pumpkin (actually half a pumpkin because after I carved it, I had to remove the back half of the pumpkin to fit on his head) was one of my neighbors at the apartment I lived in at Fullerton.

After carving the pumpkin, conning my neighbor to wear it, taking the picture, I had to personally develop the film and then make the prints in a dark room. This project took hours to complete.

These days, I could make a similar photograph in a matter of minutes–with the miracle of my iPhone camera app and Photoshop.

But really, would the picture have the same character as Jack?

Happy Halloween! Stay safe!