In 1960 I did not to go to the political conventions. I had done this in 1956 but I was tired although still a political junkie. I decided to watch the Nixon-Kennedy TV debate on my black & white television.
I quickly realized this debate was a game changer for political campaigns and raced to my storage cabinet, grabbed a tripod a camera and a cable release…all the time trying to remember the correct exposure for television.. ( It was 1/15th at f2.8 with TX.)
But after shooting a few frames I decided it was a boring exercise and almost quit when I realized that the camera 1/ camera 3 crossover might produce something interesting. Of course I didn’t know if I was right until I had developed the film, but on the other hand those negatives are still fine after 52 years..take that computer!
The series of five frames has become part of my “Still Movies” series and is now in the permanent collection of Musee d’art Contemporain de Montreal and has been exhibited in museum shows in Canada, U.S., Spain & Japan.
It will be up for auction at Swann Galleries in NYC on October 4. [ Item 153]. I will not be reprinting this or any of my Still Movies. There are less than ten copies extant .