Life Before and At The Millennium

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The Millinnium series started in 1994. They are essays I had been writing on and off about people I had met. We were living in San Francisco, just north of the tech capital of America, Silicon Valley. As time went on the press was starting to hyperventilate about computers not be able to roll the calender over into 2000 without causing major disruption to the world order. Apple was slamming Microsoft and via versa in their bids to be the company that saved us from the century change disaster. Computers at this time were just becoming everyday household objects and hardly anyone had a cell phone.

This series was produced photographically with multiple negatives for type and photographs, all printed in my darkroom. My idea was to lay them out as magazine pages, and then, not having the vaguest idea how to create the series on a computer, I reverted to my graphic art and photographic knowledge to construct the series. The type negatives were produced full frame, separate from the photographs. It was an "earn while you earn” experience manipulating the multiple negatives in the dark. I found the process to be very satisfying creatively. Today, because we all own a computer, it would not be cost effective or as challenging as when we were living Life At The Millennium.