I\u2019ll never forget the first time I met David Bradley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For anyone who met David Bradley, they too likely remember the first time. David wasn\u2019t one to tiptoe into a room. When he was near his presence was known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I met David, I was assigned to write a story on Summit Academy OIC and its director, Louis King. David was given the photo assignment. Often, when covering a story I was tasked with writing and taking photos, so it was a bit of a relief to know I could just concentrate on the interview without having to drop the pen and pick up my camera to snap a couple of quick photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I met David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I could introduce myself, David greeted me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou the guy that\u2019s writing the story,\u201d asked David, seemingly already knowing the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I answered to the affirmative and David said he had been reading my articles and thought highly of them. While I appreciated the compliment, I was still taken aback by David. He was loud and brash, but it was clear he meant no harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without me asking, David offered up several life details. A retired postal worker originally from Chicago, David picked up photography as a hobby that would turn into his life\u2019s passion. His attire announced he was a Vietnam veteran. I would later learn Vietnam was a place of horror and source of torment for David. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVietnam killed me long ago, but I\u2019m just not buried yet,\u201d David once told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the interview with King, more than once David interrupted to offer his perspective; and I\u2019ll admit, I was becoming annoyed. Together, we trudged through the interview and went our separate ways. I didn\u2019t see David for a while, but I saw his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man knew what he was doing with that camera. Or I should say those cameras.<\/em> He always had two or three dangling from his neck. I don\u2019t know if I ever saw David without his cameras around his neck. Even when he\u2019d come to the office just to drop off photos he\u2019d be strapped, so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we knew the moment he stepped in the door. With our offices on the second floor, David would enter announcing his presence \u2026 \u201cThis is David Bradley here to see Harry.\u201d I\u2019m sure the neighbors could hear him. Before he could get to my office, he\u2019d stop for a conversation with Batala McFarlane, Insight News\u2019<\/em> publisher; or as David called her, \u201cScooter Mom,\u201d a nickname he gave her following the birth of her son, Reginald McKeever III \u2026 aka \u201cScooter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like I said, photography for me started less as a passion, but more out of necessity. Staffers at small papers do whatever needs to be done to tell the story, so if we didn\u2019t have a photographer available, by default, I was it. Point and click a couple of times and move on. I was a writer, who took pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David didn\u2019t see it that way. He kept saying he saw something in my photos, but I certainly didn\u2019t. At the time I had a standard amateur photographer camera \u2026 you know, the autofocus with the fixed zoom lens and fixed flash. Your basic Best Buy special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David kept telling me to upgrade. He was always talking about his cameras, field of depth, aperture, F-stops and sorts of things that at the time meant nothing to me and went way over my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou need a real<\/em> camera,\u201d David kept saying. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the eye; you just need the equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August of 2016 my father passed and David said, \u201cI got something for you coming to the office.\u201d I assumed it was flowers or something of that nature \u2026 the typical expression of sympathy, but when the Amazon package arrived, I was left speechless. David\u2019s idea of flowers came in the form of a Nikon D3300 with a detachable 18-55mm lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t comprehend the level of kindness bestowed upon me. The next day David came to the office bearing more gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is all equipment I used, but I\u2019m giving it to you,\u201d David told me while emptying a box filled with a Tamron 18-270 mm lens, a Tokina AT-X Pro macro lens used for super close range shots, three external flashes for studio photography, two flash umbrellas and a white studio backdrop. Later, after David got tired of seeing me put my equipment in my backpack, he gave me two different camera cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike I said, I see something in you with this photography,\u201d he told me, when I quizzed him about his generosity. \u201cAnd to reward me, all you have to do is take photography seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not wanting to let my mentor down, I immersed myself in learning my new gear. I switched from autofocus to manual. I learned depth of field, aperture and F-stop and purchased a couple of other lenses, which I was eager to tell David all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He eventually upgraded me to the Nikon D7100 \u2013 this time at a cost, but still a deeply discounted price \u2013 and he threw in another Tamron lens \u2013 a 70-200 mm with 1.8 aperture. It\u2019s one of my favorite lenses for low-light shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By this time David had moved away from Nikon and was in love with Sony mirrorless cameras. No longer carrying two and three cameras, that\u2019s all you\u2019d see him with. And he was a wizard with it, the same as he was with the Nikons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David\u2019s eye showed in his portraits, but his true beauty showed in his concert photography. Maybe because it was combining his two loves \u2026 the love of photography and of music; in particular jazz. David was a huge fan of Miles Davis. Owned all his records and knew most everything about the man. So, to see David\u2019s capture an artist such as saxophonist Pharoah Sanders is to see art capturing art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And his black and white photography was amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n