Even Back-burner Dreams Can Bring Rewards Later In Life

Last week I noted that there have been two constants in my life: music and photography. Certainly music was a much bigger constant.

That does not diminish my love of photography and how much it has filled my life. However, until my early 20s photography seemed to move in and out of my life.

I read a lot of comic books as a young boy. Advertised inside and sometimes on the back covers of comic books was an “opportunity” to sell Cloverine Salve and earn credits to use to redeem products from their catalogue.

When I was 10-years-old I sent away to try this “opportunity.” I got the box of salve a few weeks later along with the catalogue of items I could work for. The only thing that interested me was a camera.

We lived in Mt. Baldy Village at the time and it turns out that the salve worked pretty well on mosquito bites. So I easily sold all the cans in the first box and sent away for a second box. I needed to sell about 3 boxes for enough credits to claim the camera.

It took awhile longer to sell the second and third boxes but I did and before the summer was over I received the camera in the mail. It wasn’t much of a camera. Mostly plastic parts, it wasn’t the highest quality camera, I’m sure.

Shortly afterward we moved down the hill to Ontario. With the camera, I was a big hit with the girls in my neighborhood who loved to play fashion model and pose for me. I shot a few rolls of film and convinced my parents to get them developed.

I vaguely remember the square 2-1/2”x2-1/2” black & white prints of these young girls posing provocatively in their swim suits. I gave most of them away to the models. They loved them.