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Saturday, December 22 2007, 5:58 AM
All American, the story
The story behind a photograph
By Kevin Saitta
This image,
All American",
has a little history behind it with sentimental memories, not the
photograph itself, but rather the memory of taking it and the friend
I took it with.
Many years ago back in 1988 a friend of mine and I were out on a day trip
driving through the back roads between Livermore and Pleasanton, CA.
Along our journey we stumbled upon this quaint little antique shop in the
middle of nowhere. It was old, rustic and filled with beautiful little trinkets that you could see form the road as you drove by while gazing into its windows.
As we passed this little shop, we decided to make a u-turn and go back to take a closer look
at this place. We parked, got out of the car and headed over towards the entrance, only find
a sign in the window that said they were closed and would be back at 9am, it was 6pm so we
missed the opportunity by an hour. A little disappointed Dave and I decided to take a gander
around the place before getting back into the car. As we looked around I saw this neat old
Cola sign with an American flag draped over one side of it in the window. Dave also saw a
few things he thought were worthy to photograph as well, so we decided to take some photographs
before we headed back onto the road.
We headed over to my car and grabbed our gear, I grabbed my Hasselblad 500CM and tripod from the
back of my old white ford F150 pickup truck, as did Dave. We setup our cameras and started to
photograph. I remember looking at this image through the viewfinder and taking the picture so
I could later share what we did that day with my girlfriend, who now is my
beautiful wife, of all the
different things we saw that day along our journey.
That Thursday afternoon was a wonderful time two friends had exploring the areas along the
back road and talking about life in general.
That was the last time Dave and I photographed together as I had moved out of the area.
Over the years though Dave and I had kept in touch on the phone, or I would stop by from time
to time to share photograph I have taken to show him my progression as an artist. He always
encouraged me to continue and always said that one day I would make it, I would always say,
"maybe, only time will tell", he would smile and invite me to sit out back with him to have
a cigar and maybe a glass of wine.
Then a few years later, once again, I moved out of the area, and this time for a few years we
lost touch. When I finally settled into my new surroundings, I decided I needed to contact
Dave to see how everything was going, I found his number and gave him a call. His wife picked
up and I asked if Dave was home. Well, all of a sudden things became extremely quiet, then I
heard a voice shattered with these words coming over the line, "David died a few months ago",
at first I thought I was hearing things, then I realized I wasn't. My world changed at that
instant as I just realized that I lost a dear and beloved friend, a fiend that no matter
what happened, would always encourage to keep up my art, even when I thought of quitting.
After I hanged up the phone with his wife, I thought about the photographs Dave and I
made when we were together. I remember finding this negative stored away in my boxes
and putting it aside, I said to myself that one day I would print this image in memory
of my friend Dave.
Finally after many years after that phone call I printed the image, not so much for myself,
but as a memory of a day with a friend, a memory I could share with others. This photograph
is one I no longer own, as it has been sold, so now the memory that day Dave and I shared will
live on and others I will never know will keep this memory alive each time they look into the
image hanging upon their wall.
And that is the story behind my image,
"All American".
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