Most of Pop's working life was spent as a photographer and studio manager with Eastman Chemicals - a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak.
He tried at times to start his own business:
After he got out of the Army at the end of WWII, he took a leave of absence from Eastman and tried his hand at the photographing endeavor of so-called “kidnapping”; Pop took our family (Pop, Mom, and I) to Southern California, where he set up to take pictures of kids he spotted with their parents on the street and attempted to sell candid shots and portraits of the kids to the parents. After less than a year, we were back in New York and back at Eastman.
In 1947 Mom and Pop bought two acres of land with a house build in 1865 in Somers, NY. This was my childhood home and where me and all of my siblings grew up.
Pop commuted the 100 mile round trip to NYC to continue his job with Eastman.
In the mid fifties, Pop used one half of a two-car garage to build and set up a mostly-automated (for the day) photo finishing business. He contracted with businesses around northern Westchester county and Putnam county to process the film for the customers of these businesses. Mom ran the pickup and delivery part of the business, as well as some of the photo finishing. Pop, took what part he could after working a full time job at Eastman.
In the early sixties, Mom and Pop attempted to add a portrait studio to his working repertoire, and opened a small shop in Brewster, NY. Pop’s business acumen was not such to support much success at such a business, and it shut down after a couple of years.
Pop maintained that Eastman gave him the perfect job, and was known to say, “I am underworked and overpaid”. He should have just stuck with that, and he would have had more time for his family.
