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!
Back when our kids were growing up, off the rack Halloween costumes always seemed tacky to me. I believed Halloween costumes should be homemade, which usually meant something thrown together at the last minute.