Sam is a garage sale shopper. As a kid her family spent a lot of time on Saturday mornings sifting through local garage sales finding clothing, furniture and “what-nots”.

When we got married in 1995 I had a blanket, a few cameras, a laundry basket of t-shirts and a meager CD collection. Thanks to her garage sale prowess She had a couch, chair, table, microwave, bookshelf, lots of clothing and a healthy kitchen set-up. She was 19, I was 22.

She still maintains her desire to dig through others peoples stuff at garage sales. Sometimes I’ll feel like I am up to it and I’ll go with her. She tries to make it special for me by getting donuts and teasing me by saying “maybe this one will have old cameras” but I usually peter out by garage sale number 3.

She got this “Barbie car” at a garage sale and Lily drove it endlessly. The big question out of Lily’s mouth for weeks after Sam got the car was “is the Barbie car battery charged yet?”

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Photo tips, philosophical dilemmas and technical information

Canon Eos 1n, 24-70mm lens, tri-x film. Exposure unknown.

It’s late in this photograph, evening is falling. The streetlight in the background tells me that. It had to be dark enough to switch the light sensor on. The lens was set to f2.8. the shallow depth of field tells me that.

While in Photo classes in High School, Mr. Tromburg taught me a valuable principle about images where people are looking out of the frame.

The principle was to give the “looker” room in the frame to “look”. While shooting this image I instinctually forced the composition to the left when Lily’s head swiveled left. This composition gives the viewer room to cast their eyes in the same direction as the main subject. It’s not a big deal, it’s a subtle principle to have in your toolbelt. Subtlies are the ornamentation in your photographs.

Mr. Tromburg also flirted endlessly with the girls in the class. This was long before all the scandalous behavior of teachers came to light and things were a lot more innocent.

He always said a line to anything that a student offered as an excuse for any failure to perform: “My Brother eats peaches”.  I didn’t understand it until I said it to my Mom one time in response to a reason she couldn’t give me $5.

“I can’t give you $5, Jon, I need to buy groceries and I am almost out of money”

“My Brother eats peaches.”

“Exactly” She responded.

I was foiled.