In the basement lived two brothers, one who had lately returned from time in Vietnam and was attending school on the GI Bill. While on R&R in Tokyo he had purchased some camara equipment. He did not know much about photography and as I learned some basic stuff as a child, I taught him how to use the camera and some basic darkroom techniques. In return he allowed me use of his equipment and I gradually become more active.

My roommate then was engaged to a woman whose father owned a camera store in Chicago and one day when he was visiting he saw that I was interested in photography, observed that I did not have a camera, mostly because of “student poverty,” asked me what kind of camera I wanted —Nikon F— and gave me a very good price.

Another student friend lived in the attic of his parents home where there was a darkroom in the basement which was made available for me to use. It turned out his father was a graphic designer and had been involved with photography from very early days—As he once reminisced,”We had more time then, sometimes we would set the camera up on the tripod, take the lens cover off, go out for lunch and return before the exposure was complete.” While I was there he would sometimes wander downstairs, critique my work and enlighten me about darkroom technique.

During this time I made these images. Like most of my images they are snapshots of my experiences and probably more about me than her. On the other hand, its just kind of interesting to see different images of one person. If they seem to tell a story, its the story of the images and the order in which I have put them. Any kind of reall story has long been lost to history and the present of new lives lived. Click on the image or the arrow to the right of the title.

Steve Naegele