It was the 80's. Life was Good. (#1)

I had just graduated from high school. The Reagan era, the punk movement in the UK, new wave, amazing and bad and amazingly bad hair styles, innovative clothing and jewelry (at that time, one or twelve safety pins through the ear was extremely extreme!), general civil unrest and a seemingly universal dissatisfaction with the status quo were wonderful creative influences for this kid with an SLR and a darkroom. I was fortunate to have friends that were equally creative in other ways, and who had no qualms about being in front of my camera.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the photos over the next several blog posts that I took of my two closest friends from that era. One (John) is still my best friend; he’s in the photo featured today. Perhaps you’ll recall I wrote about him once before in my tribute to my high school biology teacher, Mrs. Fagerberg. Sadly, the other friend (Danny) was taken from us not too many years after we made his photos.

John had moved to Daytona Beach a few months earlier, just a couple of hours drive away. On one of my first weekend visits to see him after he moved away, we listened to a lot of Gary Numan’s album Telekon and went down to the boardwalk to shoot these photos. From a historical perspective, the boardwalk no longer exists as you’ll see it in the photos taken that day.

I’m still accused of having “purple hair days.” For the record, I really thought it was a good color for me. It went well with the safety pins I’d pierced my ears with.

“John” Ilford film and chemistry. That’s pretty much all I can tell you. Thanks to my dad for scanning the stack of negatives I handed him upon arrival for my recent trip to Florida.

=^..^=

Do you remember the 80′s? Go on… please post a comment below and share a moment, favorite 80′s band or song.

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