JIM HERRINGTON

photographer nyc

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Benny Goodman - Charlotte, NC - 1976 © Jim Herrington While my mother dosed me with heaping helpings of soul, R&amp;B and Motown, dad was the jazzer in the family. My memories of listening to his LP of Benny Goodman&#8217;s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert go so far back they&#8217;re practically embryonic. The song I was particularly taken with was the 12 minute long &#8220;Sing, Sing, Sing&#8221;. While vinyl spun under needle, many was the night I would lie down on the floor with my eyeball just millimeters from the ruby-red &#8220;ON&#8221; light on my dad&#8217;s old Heathkit tube amplifier and let Benny and his gang transport me&#8230; such epic visuals that song would conjure up&#8230;  once I saw a massive wave of elephants storming over a barren horizon during Gene Krupa&#8217;s drum solo. In the mid &#8217;70s, when I was thirteen, Goodman came to town and it was natural that dad and I would go see him play. We sat close to the stage and it was informal enough that I got up, walked to the edge of the stage and shot 2 frames with my brand new Pentax K-1000. For reasons I can&#8217;t decipher now the unprocessed film sat in a drawer for a couple of years until I was in high school and in my photo class I developed the film, my first time doing this. Impatiently deciding that the prescribed &#8220;30 minutes in 68 degree water&#8221; wash time was a waste of time, I did some quick math and figured that 10 minutes in 100 degree water would work just fine. Well, I got it clean alright&#8230; I nearly boiled the emulsion off of the film base. I tried making prints but they looked like hell. Years went by, I became somewhat known for taking music photos, and I grew curious as to where those negatives were&#8230; the beginning of my career&#8230; but they were nowhere to be found. Finally, in the late &#8217;90s, they showed up in the bottom of a box and I went in the darkroom and printed the best frame. Being a much better printer than I was as a teenager I was pretty satisfied with the results. Now why the hell didn&#8217;t I take my camera to the Lionel Hampton concert&#8230;?

Benny Goodman - Charlotte, NC - 1976

© Jim Herrington

While my mother dosed me with heaping helpings of soul, R&B and Motown, dad was the jazzer in the family. My memories of listening to his LP of Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert go so far back they’re practically embryonic. The song I was particularly taken with was the 12 minute long “Sing, Sing, Sing”. While vinyl spun under needle, many was the night I would lie down on the floor with my eyeball just millimeters from the ruby-red “ON” light on my dad’s old Heathkit tube amplifier and let Benny and his gang transport me… such epic visuals that song would conjure up…  once I saw a massive wave of elephants storming over a barren horizon during Gene Krupa’s drum solo. In the mid ’70s, when I was thirteen, Goodman came to town and it was natural that dad and I would go see him play. We sat close to the stage and it was informal enough that I got up, walked to the edge of the stage and shot 2 frames with my brand new Pentax K-1000. For reasons I can’t decipher now the unprocessed film sat in a drawer for a couple of years until I was in high school and in my photo class I developed the film, my first time doing this. Impatiently deciding that the prescribed “30 minutes in 68 degree water” wash time was a waste of time, I did some quick math and figured that 10 minutes in 100 degree water would work just fine. Well, I got it clean alright… I nearly boiled the emulsion off of the film base. I tried making prints but they looked like hell. Years went by, I became somewhat known for taking music photos, and I grew curious as to where those negatives were… the beginning of my career… but they were nowhere to be found. Finally, in the late ’90s, they showed up in the bottom of a box and I went in the darkroom and printed the best frame. Being a much better printer than I was as a teenager I was pretty satisfied with the results. Now why the hell didn’t I take my camera to the Lionel Hampton concert…?

5 months ago 6 notes
Tagged with:  #Jim Herrington  #film  #analogue  #Benny Goodman  #big band  #swing  #clarinet  #musician  #©Jim Herrington  #photo by Jim Herrington
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