The Pacifica Tribune
Lloyd Easterby was a pilot, a barnstormer, who only flew his bright red biplane to cure his hangovers. He flew that plane a lot.
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He was The Pacifica Tribune’s darkroom tech back in 1967. I was a high school sophomore who believed I would be a sports reporter at Sports Illustrated because of my great reporting skills covering the town’s two high schools’ sporting events.
The Tribune was in the Pacific Manor Shopping Center in Pacifica, California. A coastal town eighteen miles south of San Francisco. Bill Drake was the editor, publisher and owner (eat your heart out John Temple). He was the best newsman I ever knew.
I brought my Minolta SRT 101 to the paper one day and Mr. Drake encouraged me to photograph high school football to illustrate my game-day stories. I quickly found out I needed a lens longer than the 50mm I owned.
I came back from my first gridiron game with one roll of exposed Tri-X. Twenty-four exposures. I mean, what was I going to do with all those pictures?
Lloyd was kind to me as he taught me this valuable lesson. He told me that film is the least expensive part of the photographic process. So much cheaper than to go back to do it right. He told me I must shoot at least four rolls of film per quarter to properly cover a football game. He said if I could photograph high school football, I could photograph the NFL. I thought if he was drunk.
The next game I shot four rolls per quarter and Horace Hinshaw, still the Tribune’s sports editor, ran two of my shots. I was stunned to see my byline under a published photo. I was hooked.
One day, Lloyd asked me if I wanted to go up in his biplane with him and do some aerial photography. He did not have to ask twice. This was the time I found out he flew his plane specifically to rid himself of too much alcohol the night before. And if he had to work off a good bender, he would do loops. The most important lesson I learned that day was never eat a tuna fish sandwich before going up in an airplane.
Lloyd taught me how to not mangle a roll of film when loading it on a stainless steel reel. He taught me that Tri-X and HC 110 was a great complement for film and developer. I used that combination right until Kodak changed Tri-X and HC 110. More on that in a future post.
All the mangled film on stainless steel reels, the over processing, the underexposed frames… even flying upside down at 3,000 feet, was the classroom I needed for the lessons I had to master to become a sports photographer.
I owe my sports photography prowess, if I might be so bold, to Lloyd Easterby.
