Over the weekend I scanned a few rolls of 35mm film out of my Dad's collection of negatives I have attained. There is always one on each roll which really take me back in time, and they are not always "posed at the camera". The images which are taken of life as it happened are my favorite.
This is the first image for my Virtual Gallery. When I was a kid, the living room in my Grandmother's home was the area where we all gathered in a circle to visit.
In this image, I believe my Grandmother sat down to chat in the corner of the L shaped couch, in the single seat, which allowed her to jump up and go into her kitchen around the corner to check on food in the oven.
This cushion seat on the corner of the couch was not the most comfortable spot to sit in, as you only had the funky wallpapered wall behind you for back support, unless you sat turned, so you could face the opposite tv, couch and recliner (where my uncle is sitting with his socked feet up comfortably). In that case you had no back support and just squatted and leaned forward on this corner spot in order to be a part of the circle of chat only, and not to lounge.
As a kid I hardly knew my Grandmother to visit in a seated position like this, hand up to her face, and enjoying the company with the her kids and significant others. This image shows her beautiful profile at an age I never knew her in. (I was probably born 6 year after this image was taken.)
I also love that my dad had his 35mm camera wherever he went, and he probably saw the way the natural lamp light hit her face. He and my mom probably claimed the long end of the L couch and were comfortably snuggled up together as they chatted with her older siblings across the small room. This angle which he shot this image reminds me of my many years sitting in this spot of that unusual couch with my sisters and cousins on holiday visits.
My Dad would tell me "shoot wide open at a 30th on manual with no flash" and that is what he did on this image. It came out beautiful and makes me want to pull out my old Canon AT-1 to keep 35mm on me wherever I go.
If and when I live in a huge home with lots of wall space, I will print this image as a 40x60 and place it on a wall of my private gallery to enjoy daily. Until then, it is part of my smaller print collection I have, and also it is my first digital file I am including in my "Virtual Gallery" online. I am so lucky to have the ability to time travel through his negatives. He would have never known this one click would inspire a future generation to write a piece on a 1960s L shaped couch and the memories of a grandmother.
