This is such a fun photo capturing their great expressions! These were my two favorite teachers and Tina was a very close friend. She would invite me over to her house to watch movies (with other friends) and we had such a wonderful time. I remember it was at her house that I first saw David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man”. The film terrified me and left me aghast, but yet I could not stop watching it. Pretty sure that dark living room viewing stayed with me my entire life.
These photos of my friends from middle school are just one time capsule of the 1980’s in America. The setting is St Jude Middle School in St Petersburg, Florida. The year is 1986 and we are the graduating class of 8th graders. We finally got two days free from wearing uniforms at the end of the year. One was from a day trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. The other day was probably just a perk for the kids who were graduating that year.
Everything looked a lot different forty years ago — our clothing, our hairstyles, the vehicles, buildings, and landscapes have all changed. So have we. These images were scanned from film back in 2010 and slowly restored over the years. I thought it might be nice for some folks to reflect back and see what life was like in the Year 1986. All photos taken with a Canon AE-1 35mm film camera.