The age of Aquarius
My first encounter with a REAL photo studio: The awakening.
It was September, or was it April? I can’t remember.
What I do remember is that it was Pgh. Pa and it was 1968. That said, it must have been September. I had been offered an internship with a real advertising photographer. His name was Ed Kubancek. Interesting that his initials are also e j. E J Kubancek. I arrived at the front door of his studio on Penn avenue after having taken the elevator. I remember is was the 12th floor. I heard music coming from behind the brown enameled door. The sound is still clear in my head. The original cast recording of Hair-the musical. The dawning of the age of Aquarius. The name plate said: Kubancek Photography.
I had been here once before for an interview with Ed. I really don’t have much of a memory of that visit other than his opinion of my drawings and doodles on hand towels.
I used the hand towels from the bathroom in the art school I was attending at the time for drawing paper. I'd rubber cement the towel to illustration board. I liked the way rapidograph ink spread on the towel when I drew the images I invented. Mushrooms, aura symbols and faces, and women.
He felt that my photographs were much stronger than my drawings and with that offered me a work study opportunity. It really filled the final 6 months of my stay at The Ivy School of Professional Art. Mr. Morris Kirshenbaum,the school president, was proud.
The door of the studio was opened by a young photographer named Rudy Van Hulton. Rudy became a mentor for me. He was cool, he shot fashion, and the girls loved Rudy.
As I entered the studio the music became louder and on the set I saw a female model, writhing to the music, covered in body paint. The lights flashed, Ed was shooting and giving her direction with adjectives like,” more, more emotion, that's it . softer, softer, ok now sexier.” I was mesmerized. He had total control of the situation. What power. He must really be someone.. I thought.
Truly, I was hooked. It was the dawning of the age of Aquarius.
Photo:©ejcarr (made shortly after my first encounter)
