Harvey Milk - Castro Camera

Christopher Nisperos · Mar 17, 2009

I just saw the Sean Penn film, "Milk". Harvey Milk had a camera store. Anyone here know of any "known" photographers who might have frequented his shop (Mapplethorpe was east coast...Milk's shop was in San Francisco, just down the street by the way from what was arguably the best community darkroom in the United States of America).

I know that this thread risks to die in the bud, but I was curious...thought I'd try.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 17, 2009

Well, it is possible that Mapplethorpe went through his doors - he shot a part of his more risque portfolio in the San Francisco bay area (I know he did some shots over in the Marin Headlands WWII fortifications), but I'm not sure if Milk was already dead by the time he shot those. From what I understand, Milk's camera store was pretty much a neighborhood enterprise, and rather poorly run at that. Anyone passing through town at that time would most likely have shopped at Gasser's.

Christopher Nisperos · Mar 19, 2009

TheFlyingCamera said:
Well, it is possible that Mapplethorpe went through his doors - he shot a part of his more risque portfolio in the San Francisco bay area (I know he did some shots over in the Marin Headlands WWII fortifications), but I'm not sure if Milk was already dead by the time he shot those. From what I understand, Milk's camera store was pretty much a neighborhood enterprise, and rather poorly run at that. Anyone passing through town at that time would most likely have shopped at Gasser's.

Ah, interesting, FC. I didn't know that Mapplethorpe did some of his work in the SF Bay Area. He surely would've visited Castro Street, but as you say, I'm not sure about the chronology. A couple other photographers comes to mind: Crawford Barton and Peter Berlin.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 19, 2009

Yes- he did a whole series of S/M photos featuring several gay couples in San Francisco. One of his major gallerists was in San Francisco at the time. I'm not sure if she is still alive or not - if she is, she might be able to provide some insight. If I recall correctly from one of the bios of Mapplethorpe I read, in his early years he was very un-technical and relied on his gallerists for things like supplies and guidance, and even at the end of his career, most of the magic of his prints was accomplished by labs. He knew how to express what he wanted done, and how the image should look, but lacked the technical know-how to execute it himself, so it was outsourced to labs or done by his assistants.

rorye · Mar 19, 2009

Jim Marshall lived 2 blocks away, I'm sure he probably went there a few times.

Christopher Nisperos · Mar 20, 2009

TheFlyingCamera said:
[Mapplethorpe] did a whole series of S/M photos . . . in San Francisco. One of his major gallerists was in San Francisco at the time. I'm not sure if she is still alive or not - if she is, she might be able to provide some insight. If I recall correctly... in his early years he was very un-technical and relied on his gallerists for ...supplies and guidance,...at the end of his career, most of the magic of his prints was accomplished by labs. He knew how to express what he wanted done, and how the image should look, but lacked the technical know-how to execute it himself, so it was outsourced to labs or done by his assistants.

Scott, I have the feeling that Mapplethorpe wasn't the only photographer to operate in this way. I've heard similar stories about Herb Ritts, for example. I'm more jealous of Ritts' eye than Mapplethorpe's, and —while not at all to 'snipe' at Mapplethorpe's exceptional work— I've always been disturbed by the lack of contrast in his prints ... as though he didn't use a lenshood in the studio and the images suffered from flare veiling. They always look a bit "milky" to me (no Harvey pun intended!). OK, so I'm applying technical demands to Art ... go sue me. But, for me, this aspect distracts from the message he intended to convey, so it's important.

Back to the San Francisco topic ..could the gallery have been Lee Witkin's? (I know that Witkin wasn't a 'she', but could it have been somebody who worked there?).

.

Christopher Nisperos · Mar 20, 2009

rorye said:
Jim Marshall lived 2 blocks away, I'm sure he probably went there a few times.

Interesting. I used to own and manage a photo shop on Castro Street myself ... and before that, managed a camera store in the neighborhood for a major Bay Area chain. It's strange that I never bumped into Jim Marshall in either store.

Anyway, thanks for the tidbit of info. Marshall was certainly around during the period that Harvey Milk's store was in business.. there's a good chance he'd have at least dropped-by, I'd guess.

.

rorye · Mar 20, 2009

Yep, he'd be hard guy to miss! Wonderful character. He's still on 16th and Castro. Where was your store?

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 21, 2009

Christopher- you could be right about it being Lee Witkin - it may have been one of his gallerists in NY who was a she, and promoted him out west as well.

Poohblah · Mar 22, 2009

The wikipedia article is fairly ambiguous about whether or not the store is still operating.

Completely off-topic, but I recently watched a documentary on Milk. What a guy! And how San Fran loved him.

Haven't watched the Sean Penn flick though.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 23, 2009

Castro Camera is no more- as noted in the Wikipedia article, it is now (and has been for some years) a gift shop. The owner allowed the filmmakers for MILK to recreate the store in its original location.

Christopher Nisperos · Jan 22, 2014

TotoFoto, Castro Street

rorye said:
Yep, he'd be hard guy to miss! Wonderful character. He's still on 16th and Castro. Where was your store?

Sorry for the very late reply. Jim Marshall passed away in 2010.

My photo shop —which I had named, "TotoFoto", was at 557 Castro, where there is currently a Wells Fargo bank. At the time, the location was a mini-mall (or, more like a "teenee mall" ... it had three shops!), named in honor of the business that was previously there: The Castro Street Garage Mall. TotoFoto was right at the entry to that doorless mall.

I knew the folks at Castro Camera pretty well at the time, even sending customers over for film or what-not, if I didn't have it in stock myself.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 22, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
Well, it is possible that Mapplethorpe went through his doors - he shot a part of his more risque portfolio in the San Francisco bay area (I know he did some shots over in the Marin Headlands WWII fortifications), but I'm not sure if Milk was already dead by the time he shot those. From what I understand, Milk's camera store was pretty much a neighborhood enterprise, and rather poorly run at that. Anyone passing through town at that time would most likely have shopped at Gasser's.

None of them would go near Gasser's now. A sad pathetic shell of what it once was.... :-(

Christopher Nisperos · Jan 22, 2014

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
None of them would go near Gasser's now. A sad pathetic shell of what it once was.... :-(

Thanks for that reflexion, Richard . . . Sorry to hear that. I actually worked there (in the rental department) for a while when Adolph was still alive . . . I still remember the late, great, silver-haired Les Feldman (hope I remembered his last name correctly), and coincidentally, I just saw and had lunch with Rob Mack this summer.

TheFlyingCamera · Jan 22, 2014

These days the decent camera shop in the bay area is Keeble & Shuchat, and even they aren't what they used to be.

rorye · Jan 22, 2014

Samy's are here now, they are great.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 22, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
These days the decent camera shop in the bay area is Keeble & Shuchat, and even they aren't what they used to be.

:
Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley. Just expanded to a new location. Really good shop: https://lookingglassphoto.com/

Jon Shiu · Jan 22, 2014

Is Photographers Supply still in business?

Jon

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 23, 2014

Jon Shiu said:
Is Photographers Supply still in business?

Jon

I have not been there for perhaps a year but used to past it quite frequently and it looked still open to me.

rorye · Jan 23, 2014

Jon Shiu said:
Is Photographers Supply still in business?

Jon

Yep, they are still a great source for Matt boards and stuff, they even have parking!

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