Pink Rose, Oklahoma. November 10, 1984.
I am a serious photographer today because of Mike Baroli
Mike Baroli
In August 1984, someone kicked down the back door of our house and stole several items, including my camera. With the insurance money I went to a local camera store and bought a new camera. The salesperson was Mike Baroli.
Every time I went back to the camera store to pick up a roll of processed slides, Mike took my box of slides, went back to his light table and sorted out my slides into keepers (usually about 4-6) and throwaways (usually about 30-32). Mike would tell me why some were keepers and the others were not. Every time I picked up a yellow box of Kodak slides, Mike took me to his light table, went through my slides and gave me a photography lesson.
Mike also told me which photo books to buy and what magazines to read. When Ernst Wildi came to town to do a photo seminar, Mike said “We are going.” When he heard George Lepp would be in Dallas for a photo workshop, Mike said “You have to go to Dallas.”
Mike was an accomplished photographer who did beautiful portraits of women. My thing was nature photography.
On November 10, 1984, I created this image of a rose in a friend’s garden. I took two more pictures and dropped the roll off at the camera store to be sent off to Kodak.
When I picked up the box of slides Mike did his usual thing and spread out the slides on his light table. But for the very first time he picked up one of the keepers, this pink rose, and said “This one is worthy of being made into a print.” He walked over to the print lab, made an 11×14 print on the spot and handed it to me. “No charge.” It was his gift to me.
It was a red letter photography day! My first “print worthy” image!
As for Mike, he started with me as a snap shooter and he sent me well down the road to being a real photographer.
When my photography book was being finalized in 2010, I put in a tribute to Mike on the Dedication and Acknowledgments page. I wrote to him and thanked him again for what he did for me and for my photography. He sent a nice note back. He said he was just doing what he liked to do, sharing his love for photography. He was proud of me.
Mike died an untimely death before the book came out in print a few months later. I mailed a copy of the book to his wife. I received a nice letter from her and I heard from other members of Mike’s family.