A Twenty Year Throwback in Photography and WPPI?

by Skip Cohen

​For me, the fun of Throwback Thursday starts out with the "hunt." I've missed a couple recently but decided it was time to search out some gems yesterday. This would have been WPPI, I think Paris, and I'm guessing it's probably around 2002 or 2003. (If anybody wants to correct my dates, feel free. At this point there have been so many memory-making shows.) The bottom row is Don Blair's daughter Kathy, Bambi Cantrell, "Bid Daddy" himself, and Gary Blair. The back row is me, Tony Corbell and Terry Deglau. 

We'd all gone out for dinner and grabbed a shot outside restaurant row. Don was on a scooter back then. Looking at this image brings back so many great memories, and while it's bittersweet having lost both Don and Terry, it doesn't change the place those two will always hold in my heart.​

Here's one of those priceless backstories that adds to the fun of a throwback: Don needed a scooter to get around, so he made arrangements with the hotel to rent during the show. Early one evening, a bellman came frantically looking for me. He needed to find Don. Unfortunately, they had given him the wrong scooter. Instead of the rental, which was a beater, they'd given him a shiny new black one, fully pimped out - it even had slick-looking side mirrors. The problem was that it was the privately owned scooter of another hotel guest!

Well, they eventually found Don, and he'd taken a few tight turns and broken both mirrors along with a fresh collection of scratches. All of us had a hard time keeping a straight face, as we watched the bellman turn pale. I don't remember how the bell staff resolved the problem.

Then, I found this one. There are simply no words to describe what it was like hanging out with these two. Most of the funniest stories I have from the past include Terry, Don, Tony Corbell or all three! We worked hard and played hard and in the process I learned so much from these guys.

If you don't usually search for old photographs on Throwback Thursday, see if you can get in the habit. It's the perfect way to remember the important role imaging plays in everyone's lives, especially your own.

​Happy Throwback Thursday!