It was a rare date night with my new girlfriend, Sarah, not for lack of trying, but more for lack of money.
Our Trip to Ghirardelli Square was via the Golden Gate Transit Ferry. It was more romantic than it sounds, especially for a couple of high school kids on a limited budget.
It was nearing sunset, and the weather was perfect out on the bay. Perfect for a new couple out in the city. It was perfect for a picture of one of the more beautiful sunsets I had ever seen against an iconic landmark.
Back then, we had cameras that only used film. You either took one shot and hoped for the best, or you took six and hoped that at least one of them would be usable. Generally, when I used my own film instead of the school’s, I took only a single shot. Because of the fleeting nature of this sunset and quickly changing colors, I took six and only got one that I liked. It was my film, but this was worth the splurge.
The sun was framed by the far-off fog and was in a perfect position at the base of the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The light was a deep red-orange.
Of course, that night I did not know if any of the pictures I had taken would be usable. And I was really more interested in my date. But that is a story for another time.
When I got the color transparencies back, I could tell I had one good shot. I also knew it would be better with something added to the foreground.
These were the days of film, and Photoshop was still a long way off. Affordable personal computers were actually still a long way off. If I wanted something else in this shot, I would have to take another picture and sandwich it into this sunset picture.
So that was how, a few weeks later, and back in San Rafael, I captured a picture of a seagull in front of my high school, which I later would add to the sunset.
I overexposed the seagulls I photographed so the lighting would somewhat match and the gulls would be surrounded by a washed-out background.
When I chose the candidate to merge, I sliced the two cardboard holders apart and positioned the actual transparencies together. Then I re-mounted them into a new holder.
The result was a seagull flying out into the sunset with the bridge framing it and the sun dipping below the horizon.
Sarah was extremely competitive, and this picture irked her a bit.
The composite slide was displayed at the Marin County Fair a year or so later. And a fair attendee saw it, looked me up, contacted me, and paid me $100 for a copy.
This experience made me want to become a photographer. It was the quickest hundred bucks I ever earned.
Memory is the Key 