Throwback Thursday - Rangefinder Magazine 1993

by Skip Cohen

The fun of Throwback Thursday is often in the hunt! You never know what you're going to find, and what you do find, brings back incredible memories. Searching for old Rangefinder Magazine covers I found the one the right.

The year is 1993, and WPPI was in Nashville. I was president of Hasselblad at the time, but very involved in WPPI.  It would be eight years later I'd join Rangefinder/WPPI. Many of us would come in for the WPPI convention a few days early, and help the team with setup, print display, putting together the welcome bags - you name it we did it. The show was a labor of love and a reunion of some of the most passionate companies and artists in imaging.

That year I got an invitation to have my daughter on the cover of the magazine. She was the subject in a Don Blair portrait, taken at a plantation just outside town. Right after Don captured the images he wanted for the magazine, he did a series of bridal portraits of Clay Blackmore and his soon-to-be bride, Lilia. They even held their wedding at WPPI!

And that brings me to the second reason for searching for throwback images - the memories they bring back. Those were pretty amazing years for WPPI and the industry in general. The WPPI show was only around 2500 people, but the spirit of the show was unbeatable.

We were a film-driven industry. Digital cameras weren't really on the scene professionally for a few more years. The biggest excitement was over auto-focus. I remember Calumet protesting Nikon's announcement they were discontinuing the manufacturing of manual focus lenses. And the memories - all from one magazine cover, just keep coming! 

Wishing everybody a terrific Throwback Thursday and one loaded with great memories. Use your own throwback images on your blog - it's the perfect marketing tool to help remind Mom how quickly the kids are growing up and life is changing.

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