BLOG – Page 6 – Finding Joel Pahl Dardis

Finding Joel Pahl Dardis

A blog about the work and legacy of a Stockton photographer

Stockton Fog Picture, JFC, circa 1970

I’ve mentioned before that the main reason for Joel to get into 4×5″ “Large Format Photography”, was most likely driven by his desire to be taken “serious” as a photographer. He had resigned into not being a professional photographer, this is, making a living out of it. But that didn’t take away Joel’s desire to…

September 24, 2022
Dick Bass, COP-San Jose, Box 102, Nov 1958

The date is November 8, 1958 and College of Pacific is playing San Jose State. I’ve indicated before to keep a close eye on all of Joel’s football images of 1956-1959. There are plenty of them showing #22, so I checked who was wearing the jersey. Dick Bass. From Pacific website Hall of Fame: Joel…

September 23, 2022
COP Boxing, JFC, April 1957

Further exploring the 1955-1959 timeframe,I found a few sleeves in Jessica Fong’s Collection of Dardis negatives with the “Boxing, April 26, 1957” written on them. No further information about schedules nor athletes. These negatives are all shot as 4×5″. It’s most likely, from the angles and perspectives, including lack of positional movement, that Joel’s camera…

September 22, 2022
COP-Chico State, JFC, Dec 1956

This basketball game was found in one of the 4×5 negative sleeves from the Jessica Fong Collection of Dardis negatives. The date on the sleeve is Dec, 1956. Since the Chico State basketball game is discussed in the December 7, 1956 Pacific Weekly, all seems to fit. Further research showed this game was played on…

September 21, 2022
Soap Box Derby, Box 101, 1958

This derby took place on July 11, 1958 in Stockton. The pilot’s T-shirts in the images all read Karl Ross Post 16, American Legion. Safe to assume this is about a yearly event to see who qualifies for the All American Derby Down in Akron, Ohio Soap Box Derby. That’s where the real prize money…

September 20, 2022
Smith Canal and RR Tracks, JFC

Continuing the scanning of the Jessica Fong Collection sleeves. This time the content of the sleeve had no date on it, just a note to print the contents at 11×14″ enlargement. In spite of lack of a date, there’s a few things to note. First of all, Joel is after “fine-art” images to print, sell…

September 19, 2022
Delta King, JFC, May 1959

The exact date of this sleeve with 4×5 negatives in Jessica Fong’s collection of Dardis images is May 2, 1959. The Delta King is well known in the Delta area, but I did have to check out the history from a time perspective to make sure the May 2, 1959 date on the sleeve is…

September 18, 2022
Smith & Lang Fire, JFC, July 1958

There’s a lot written about the Smith & Lang Fire in Stockton, July 22, 1958 already. Scanning 4 x 5 negatives from Jessica Fong’s Collection, I came across these 3 larger negatives. It puzzled me at first, as one wouldn’t necessarily take a 4 x 5 view camera to a fire to report on, but…

September 17, 2022
COP Football, Box 100, 1958

The rest of of the negatives in box 100 are all related to football matches at COP. There’s of course the Arizona State match of September 27, 1958, but also Brigham Young University (BYU) on October 11, 1958, and finally, Cincinnati on October 18, 1958. I can’t tell from the images alone which negatives belong…

September 16, 2022
Sammy Davis Jr., Box 100, Sep 1958

Hard to believe we looked through some 100 press format negative boxes since we started this journey in March 2022. Not to count the many Kodachromes and other format negatives Joel photographed between 1938 and now. So far, I’ve scanned 2700+ negatives and shown 2650+ of them. September 27, 1958 is what Joel wrote on…

September 15, 2022