In the late 1970's, on the north side of Spokane, there was a nerd whose friends were all aspiring musicians (rock guitarists). This Nerd developed a passion for photography and began taking pictures of his friends, and learned to process them in a homemade dark room. The group of friends had many musical heroes: Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith among others.
Their latest hero was an up-and-coming new band by the name of Van Halen. A Black Sabbath concert had been scheduled in Spokane, with Van Halen as the opening act, so the friends asked the Nerd to come take pictures and they would buy his ticket. He could not turn down such an opportunity. You see, this was before the era of bans on cameras and recording equipment at gigs.
They all showed up early for the concert and sat in front of the doors until they opened, and were able to get a spot on the front wall five feet from the stage. Van Halen opened, and standing five feet from the stage they were nearly able to touch the Eddie and David Lee Roth. Before he knew it, he had used up his entire roll of film, leaving nothing with which to shoot Black Sabbath.
The next day his friends were anxious to see the pictures he took. The Nerd processed the film and printed a proof sheet. Most of it was very disappointing, having never worked with stage lighting before many of the shots were either over or under-exposed to the point that he could not get a decent print from them. However there were some bright spots on that proof sheet, and the Nerd printed some enlargements that proved very valuable to young Van Halen fans. The next school year, he took the negatives to school and a couple of his prints were hung on the wall of the photography class room. They remained there just a few days before someone decided they were worth stealing. The negatives also were damaged beyond use when someone tried to release them from their secure home in a locked drawer in the darkroom.
Two of his friends took their pictures to the next Van Halen concert and later at the Sheraton Hotel, had them sent up to the band to be autographed. The pictures were returned, signed and with a message. A few prints were put away, safe and secure in the Nerd's photo portfolio for the next ten years, and he even had one mounted on a China plate. For the past 15 years the plate has remained stored in its box with an occasional peak for close friends and a story to go with it.
I am that Nerd. | 
