Origin Story

The logo of this website is a photo I Dylan Carpowich took in 2018.  I picked up a love of photography from my Dad which was one of his former passions.  This photograph was taken somewhere between 1973-1975 as one of the early street photographs of the Trans America Building.  He was experimenting with shutter speeds on a Nikon Photomic FTN SLR 35mm he purchased in Amsterdam while studying abroad at St. Andrews University.  

My Dad purchased the camera from the BX on an American military base in Amsterdam for $500 in 1971.  Recently while looking at the price of mirrorless cameras I decided to look up what $500 was back in 1971 in 2023 dollars.  It turns out that it was the equivalent of over $3,700 in today's money.  So even over half a century ago photography was an expensive hobby. 

I recently came across this letter in my Grandpa's desk, it is dated from 1984 during a time in which people still wrote letters as a main source of communication.  Oddly enough it was not that long after 1984 when letter writing has gone away.  Letters and writing letters and sending them in the mail as a way of communicating with acquaintances far away was a human tradition that was at least 4,000 years old.  The Persians had a courier system of delivering letters and mail that was admired by the ancient Greeks in 550 b.c the historian Herodotus wrote "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Which is an unofficial motto of the USPS. 

This letter is not really of any significance, my Dad mailed a book and a small card to a professor he had at St. Andrews as a thank you and this letter was written by his secretary saying the professor was out of the country but appreciated the card and book. 

What I do like about it is that it is old timey even for the mid 1980's.  The envelope has the seal of the University on it, the paper the letter inside includes a watermark and was typed on a typewriter.  One of the quirks of old Universities like St. Andrews is that it is a place where time and modernity just is not that important.  

My Dad recalled having to write all of his papers by hand on a legal pad with a pen in cursive.  Thankfully back in the 1950's in California there were some good nuns who beat the practice of proper penmanship in kids, so my Dad's cursive was more than legible.

The point being is that this was in 1970 and the typewriter was invented closer to 1870.  But St. Andrews University in 1970 thought the invention was too modern, or was a line not to be crossed regarding the honor system of a University of its stature and reputation.

In the 21st century only 15 or so years after this letter was sent, the tradition of sending letters in the mail which had been around for at least 4,000 years has pretty much gone by the wayside of history and has been replaced with digital communication and zoom calls. 

Old & New Street Photography