April 6, 2020

I hope everyone is doing well during our pandemic right now. Here in Wisconsin we are being advised to stay at home.  There is not much traffic out there so hopefully everyone is complying and staying safe.  It's a good time to get house projects done and other chores.

We go back in time today for my blog which is about my first paying music related photo job!!! I was 17 years old, in high school and working at Camera Corner here in Milwaukee every day after school.

My boss at Camera Corner, John Dunar, was very nice and saw my interest of getting into the music photography business. A friend of John's was Dave Kennedy of Dave Kennedy Recording Studios. They were talking together in the store one day and Dave said he had a band called The Serendipity Singers coming in to record that week. Then he asked me if I would like to photograph this folk band and document their day of recording in his studios! Before I could say yes he even offered to pay me!

The day is documented here and you can even see my photo gear bag in one photo. The experience was an eye opener for me in a few ways. It was the first time in a recording studio and I was just in love with the technology that surrounded me. Dave Kennedy had THE 16 track tape machine of the time, an Ampex Master Maker 1000 16 track recorder!

The second eye opener of the day happened when I learned that my borrowed camera was stolen!  I borrowed it from Camera Corner with permission from my boss. I wanted to have two cameras available to me that day.  I put one of the cameras on a couch in the reception office for a few minutes. In less than five minutes someone took it and it was never seen again along with the exposed film that was in it. My boss at the camera store was very nice about it but it was a big life lesson for me!  Still would really like to have that film.

Enjoy the photos that I have of that very interesting day.  They even played kazoo's! Remember those?

Be safe everyone.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Serendipity Singers at the Dave Kennedy Recording Studios on June 7, 1972.