Page 5 - "Who do You Think You Are? Johnny Abbass"?

ISSUE : Issue 58

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/8/1

to the Army. I was finished school, and I was working at Myers now full-time. And I went into the Army. But before I went into the Army, I was tak? ing some freelance pictures for the Chronicle-Herald. It was known then as the Halifax Her? ald. There was a lady by the name of Mrs. Ingraham--she was a reporter for the Herald. And the photographer that she was using, either he went to war, or he'd left the area. And there was nobody that could take the pictures. And she was a good friend of my mother's. She said, "Why doesn't one of your boys take these pictures for me." "Well," (my mother) said, "they're all going in the Army." She said, "Well, what about this fellow." And my brother Tony was only 12 or 13. She said, "He can show (Tony) how to do it. He doesn't have to really be a real good photographer. Just have him show him how to point the camera and how to put the film in and how to flash the bulb. And I'll go with him and help him." So this is what happened. We went off to the war. Tony took a course from us by corre? spondence and by experimentation. And Tony turned out to be a really good photogra? pher. And did a lot of photographs for the Halifax Herald. And sometimes he'd get a call from far-away papers like the Toronto Star, or Life magazine, or Time magazine. (That they wanted his pictures.) If there was a big event taking place here. Like, you know, there may be a shipwreck, or there may be an explosion--that would be a big story. Or if there was a murder or something like that, they'd call. He'd be 13. 14. (Were the people at Life magazine or the Herald aware that their photographer was 12 McCurdy's staff bowling team receiving their trophies or 13 years old?) I don't think that--they never stopped to question it. All they were interested in was the picture. And if it was a good enough quality to publish--and he had many pictures published. So (Tony'd) send the pictures to me, and the clippings out of the paper, when I'd be overseas. And I'd send back and say, "You know, the next time you take that picture, or in that sit? uation, move the people here, or hold the camera higher, or, you know, hold it at a different angle...." Here we were giving him a correspondence course. And Tony became a real first-class photographer. Cape Breton Auto Radiator co RADIATOR HOSES • REPAIRING • CLEANING • RECORING ir'oi- . COMPLETE CYLINDER HEAD SERVICE '' 518 Grand auto * truck * industrial Sydney Lake Road Complete Line of Gas Tanks 564-6362 • NOW DOING AUTOMOBILE AIR CONDITIONING • John Cunningham Limited DRAPERIES & HOME FURNISHINGS 602 George Street • Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 1K9 564-6444 The oldest established Furniture and Drapery Store ' in Sydney ' SERVING ALL OF CAPE BRETON COMMERCIAL • INDUSTRIAL • RESIDENTIAL I ALUM-SASH & SCREEN I STORE FRONTS & WINDOWS I MIRRORS ?? TABLE TOPS I INDUSTRIAL SAFETY GLASS I PLEXIGLASS & LEXAN ?? AUTOMATIC ENTRANCE I THERMO INSULATED UNITS COMMERCIAL EMERGENCY SERVICE • 24 HOURS- PERCY LUSH 539-9199 KEN KEOUGH 564-6680 CAPE BRETON ,/ '/ GLASS 19 MITCHELL PL. SYDNEY I-CAPE BRETON GLASS 562-2817 I CENTRE 260" FAX • 564-9889 LOCALLY OWNED WITH OVER 100 YEARS EXPERIENCE

Cape Breton's Magazine