Norman & Joan Nelsen: 17 June 1950

Scenes from my Grandparents Wedding Day.  These six images seem to have been given to them by someone who attended the church event and later provided them with slides.  The slides themselves had "Nelsen" misspelled as "Nelson" on the cardboard frames, so I'm guessing they were shot and annotated by someone who was a friendly with them, but not related to them (or aware of my Grandfather's Norwegian nomenclature).  Regardless, I'm very grateful to the photographer for the six candid and beautifully-lit snaps they took on the church steps this day.

Mother Of The Bride:  Mae Costello in her Midcentury Matron Finest.

Picture Perfect: My twin cousins Lois and Dianne in their Flowergirl Frocks.

Bridesmaids and Flowergirls... Off to the reception!  (Behave, ladies... Behave.)

Working backwards from about 1976, we have arrived squarely at 1950.  Posting this series of images is a bit bittersweet, as these are the very last slides from the family archive.  Essentially, a very large chunk of my family has just seen a large portion of their lives displayed (albeit in reverse) on the internet.  These six pictures represent the endpoint of a rather broad arc of events, milestones, celebrations and journeys.  I'm very glad, though, that this final post of 35mm slide scans shows the beginning of what would become my Grandparents' life as a couple (and subsequently their life as parents and grandparents).  What they would go on to create in terms of family and who they would later touch in terms of friends and loved ones would end up being rather large.  Thanks for EVERYTHING, Nanny and Pop... You are loved and missed, but mostly remembered and celebrated.

Bowties, Drum Kits & Striped Pyjamas

Another look back at my grandparents' Hoyt Avenue apartment in Staten Island.  Growing up, I would always run across album prints of posed shots showing my Mom, Aunt Karen and Uncle Kevin in their striped holiday pyjamas, but the more casual shots of them actually playing with toys seemed to be on these slides.  I'm glad to have had a more candid look at the playful side of Christmas 1957 and I know my family is as well.

1967-1968: Of Saints, Skates & Seances

My mother and some friends in my grandparents' basement rec room... They look pretty jovial for a bunch of kids holding a seance.  Is it bad fashion to practice The Dark Arts in taffeta?

BELOW: My grandmother Joan Nelsen slicing a Valentine's Day cake in a red dress.

BELOW: Festive and fetching party-goers from my Mom's Saint Joseph Hill Academy Winter Formal.  Again, the scene is my grandparents' basement.  Note how relaxed, yet demure the ladies are.

 Hey there, Ginger Man... Who are you?  We'd like to know.

My Aunt Susan and a friend skating on the de facto ice rink created within the fenced and sunken area where the family's backyard pool was installed each summer.  

My Mom (age 16) dressed for a (Spring formal?) school dance.

BELOW:  Images from either a Graduation or a Confirmation party for my Uncle Kevin:

While the above party happened (once again) in my grandparents' basement, the only proper venue  

for Christmas morning festivities was the living room:

 Parting Glance:  A really beautiful shot of my Mom dressed for the Winter Formal with some guy who is DEFINITELY not my Dad.

1960s Staten Island: Altar Boys, Bishops & Scouts

The above images are from the large collection of my grandparents' 35MM film slides that I recently scanned.  They depict a parade on Victory Boulevard in Staten Island, New York outside of Saint Theresa's Catholic Church.  Based on the sheath of slides that it was housed with, I am guessing the date to be approximately 1966.  It seems my Uncle Kevin (last image, 5th boy from the right... blonde looking up at the camera) was an altar boy.  Given the fact that he was a complete hellion, I find this detail rather amusing.  Nonetheless, also we have young ladies in scouting and Elementary School uniforms from that parish's school (which none of my aunts or uncles attended).  I'm not entirely sure why the scouts and the robed candle-snuffers are marching together, but here you have it.  Wait... is that a Bishop on a horse-drawn carriage?  This whole scene is just a hair creepy.

1976 - 1981: It's A Little Bit Me...

Through the past fondly...  

Humorous looks at myself (and my family) from a massive digital transfer of 1500-plus 35MM slides.

Thirty-odd carousels (and several unorganized bags) of slides were given to me by my grandfather back in 1998.  I brought them with me in sealed plastic tubs from my Brooklyn apartment to my condo storage room in New Jersey where they sat dormant and largely unused for over ten years.  Every so often, I would take a carousel out and project a few, knowing that with the right equipment and time, I would do something fun with with them for my family and friends some day.  

Now, after giving photo CDs and DVDs of these photo slides (spanning the years 1950 - 1983) to my family,  I've decided to share some carefully chosen images from the lot on Flickr (as well as here on ArtSkoolDamage) from time to time.  Since I'm more interested in 1950s and 1960s images, with the exception of this particular post, the resulting posts will all be images that pre-date my "arrival on the scene", so to speak.   That said, feel free to enjoy my 1976 Halloween mask, my blue denim vest and my (most likely JC Penney) horrendous beige First Holy Communion suit.  As you can see, I already weighed in with my own opinion on THAT fashion choice in the photo above.