So, this is my sojourn into photography in the 1960’s. The highlighted texts are links. Just click on them to find out where I’m taking you. If you want to make a comment or see the comments just click on the title. If you missed the beginning go to rcainphoto.com and scroll back many days.
This was it. The final party. Behind Glenn are the Posters I had printed then sold throughout Vancouver. They ended up in the Hornby Co-op for sale. We had some beer and I was presented with a beautiful Nikon lens. You can see my enlarger on the desk which I had reclaimed. Focus used it all the years I was there. Speaking of years it was only 4 maybe 5 that I worked at Focus. An amazingly short time that would influence me for the rest of my life. This was it. Time to go!
Glenn stuck this on my enlarger. Kept it on Hornby. Memories.
If a big outfit like Air Canada wanted to do a promotion they would put the proposal out for bids.Usually 3 or 4 Ad Agencies would come up with competing ideas and Focus would get the work. As they brought their submisions to Focus we had to cover each package with newsprint as we worked . This was to hide the proposals from the competition. They weren’t allowed to see each others work.
Nanaimo clinic displays the logging photos.
We had lost our delivery boy so were obligated to hire a delivery service. (They were right at our door minutes after we phoned. Found out later that they simply parked in front of 1255 and waited for the dispatch. A designated driver because we were so busy). Delivery and pickup for firms near Focus was carried out by myself, Glenn or another employee.
One time I was taking a package to a client whose offices were on the 7th floor of a nearby building. I got into the elevator and was surprised to see the doors opening and closing as the elevator passed them. It did not stop at my floor although the doors opened and closed. (should have seen the looks of potential passengers as I shot by) The elevator took me to the top floor then it immediately went down to the basement. The doors doing their act again. Yoiks!! Not stopping the elevator headed up again. I girdled my loins and stepped off as the elevator passed the first floor. Pretty scary. Used the stairs every time after that.
Cigarettes and beer kept us going.
Once I caught a strange look from Rick as he ended a phone call. He was pretty shaken because the client had called him all kinds of insulting names. Without thinking I grabbed my coat and went across the street to Lovicks. I entered and walked through the cubicles until I found the guilty party. He was with a client. Didn’t stop me. I gave him holy shit saying that if he ever talked to my worker like that again I’d cut him off. He yelled that he would take Lovick’s business away from us. I said “Go ahead.” and stomped out. These were open cubicles so the whole staff of the ad agency heard our exchange. A couple of hours later I took a phone call from the head art director apologizing and saying it would definitely not happen again. This confrontation was not in my character (I surprised myself) but we were working so hard there was a lot of tension in the air.
Some people don’t believe I owned a Cadillac. Here it is. That’s Edgar in the back. It was a trade. I had a Mercury Pickup which I didn’t like very much and the Cadillac owner desperately needed a truck so it was a straight across trade. Really fun to drive. Cadillac was determined to stay ahead of the competition so it had power seats and other design goodies at least 2 years ahead. (gas guzzler,but who cared in those days) Unfortunately the muffler was fried and a cop pulled me over, gave me a ticket. Then this arrived in the mail.
Cadillac days were over. I sold it just before moving to the island. The Chevy truck on the left is what we used to move. It’s still here! If you walk the big Tree trail to the school house you’ll see it rusting on the side of the road.
Art and Emily Grice walked into Focus Prints in 1970. They were American and had just moved to Vancouver where he hoped to set up a professional photography business. We remain friends to this day. Art and Emily moved back to the States (Bainbridge Island) in the 70’s.
I really did like walking across the bridge.
Danny Murphy, Ron Shulman/1971
The North Van house had three bedrooms so there was always room for friends.
Mary and Dave Welsh visited often/1971
A dog’s Life/1971. Yes, that’s the famous bathtub.
A semi-practical use for my 10,000 historical photos
