M. Halberstadt Illustration Photography, 243 Vallejo Street, San Francisco, 1959 — 1974

Yes ! My dad. The studio was my home away from home and where I worked starting as a summer grunt into his studio assis­tant. My forma­tive years being here intro­duced me to the working life in a commer­cial studio. From mixing chem­i­cals to cleaning the floors, the prop romm and washing the stemware used in his photographs. I enjoyed every minute, but quickly learned I was not cut out to be a commer­cial photog­ra­pher. His studio assis­tants included those he traded with Ansel Adams, Gerry Sharpe and Alan Ross and those who went on to the San Francisco Art Institute ; Blair Stapp and Jerry Burchard. His partners included Jack Allen, one of the greatest art direc­tors and photog­ra­pher of his time, Walter Swarthout came from Irving Penn’s studio in New York.

After my father’s passing in 2000 we were found his port­folio and many of his original trans­paren­cies that hadn’t been seen for years and never digi­tized. 3 years later they had been scanned, restored and archived in the Schields Library at the University of California, Davis campus. Listed here under digital restora­tion and color correc­tion.