B&W film photo of students participating in a Chesapeake Bay Foundation program

[Mousetoescamper]

The high school seniors below are doing a group trust exercise before taking a canoe trip at a local lake. The CBF works with school districts throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed to raise awareness about the effects of upstream sediments and nutrients. I took the photo around 1990.

I used to work for several weekly newspapers where one of my many tasks included news and feature photography. I didn't process this particular photo but occasionally developed and printed as part of the job. The photo was taken using my personal Minolta X-7A 35mm SLR loaded with Tri-X 400 b&w film. Digital photography was just beginning to replace film when I left the business, and most of my professional and personal film photos from those years haven't yet been digitized. This is an iPhone photo of the original print.

[Ziggysmom]

1. What a cool pic! Makes me wonder where these folks are today. I remember the weekly

local newspapers, with a touch of sadness. Simpler times, waiting to read about your hometown each week. Thanks for sharing 😊

[Mousetoescamper]

2. Many of the letters-to-the-editor in the weeklies I worked for were from former

residents who noted their appreciation for our efforts. The dailies and television stations didn't cover the monthly municipal or school board meetings unless there was a controversy, and often they got their leads from our reporting. People's lives are mostly affected by local issues. The demise of weekly newspapers was a great loss to the communities they served.

We're fortunate to still have a daily newspaper in my little city in southeastern Pennsylvania. It's managed to survive a big drop in ad revenues and a recent cyber-attack. The subscription rate has increased substantially this year, but I don't mind paying more if it helps the paper stay afloat.