May 3, 2022
Doug Salin has
trouble doing anything longer than one hour.
In this podcast, the career
photographer shares his life story with us. We recorded in Doug's
house in the Sunnyside, the same place we met and talked with
ex-San Francisco poet laureate, Kim Shuck (Part 1 / Part 2). Kim is Doug's life partner, in
fact.
These days, Doug works as a robotics
mentor for high school students in The City. He's been doing
photography since he was four. He began college studying physics,
but that didn't excite him. Somewhat by accident, he fell into
mechanical engineering instead. He soon became the photo editor of
the college newspaper and yearbook.
Doug figured he was destined to work
in journalism. But someone he knew mentioned heading up to San
Francisco to see if there were any photo jobs for him. He wasn't
planning to stay in San Jose, so he came up and met Paul
Hoffman.
Hoffman connected Doug with Macy's
in Union Square, where there was an opening in the store's in-house
photo department. He had no experience in commercial photography,
but figured what the hell?
He ended up getting the job and
worked in the company's dark room, which was located inside the
store. Then someone asked him to help with "paste-ups," which was
more like the work he did for his college yearbook.
About a year later, the photo
department was looking to remodel their area of Macy's. Doug took a
look at the plans and suggested something different, more
efficient. They ended up going with Doug's revisions. Shortly after
the renovations were made, Macy's named Doug an assistant studio
manager.
He still wasn't taking photos in
that situation, though. But in his experience of managing
photographers, he picked up what he needed along the
way.
We rewind to hear a little about
Doug's German and Austrian Jewish ancestors and how they ended up
in California. Please join us Thursday for Part 2 and the
continuation of Doug's story.
We recorded this podcast at Doug's
home in the Sunnyside in April 2022. Photography by Michelle Kilfeather