MY GARY FONG COLLECTION

A couple of days ago, Bethany posted a photo on her blog to commemorate what would have been her mom’s 61^st birthday.  The photo showed a 23-year-old guy and a 20-year-old girl who would one day become her parents.  She mentioned that she didn’t know exactly when the picture was taken because she hadn’t been born yet.  I informed her that the photo was taken in 1973 by Gary Fong. 

 

When I first met Gary, I had just attended an evening service at Chinese Grace Bible Church in Sacramento during the summer of 1971.  Following the service, I agreed to talk privately with one of the guys at the church.  Gary was my age, 21, and he shared with me from the Bible how I could be assured of eternal life.  I skeptically listened to his reasoning, left that night with many doubts, but became a follower of Christ by the time summer came to an end. 

 

At that time, Gary was a college student at San Jose State College.  He was majoring in either journalism or photography or a combination of the two.  I was between my third and fourth year at UC Davis, majoring in staying out of Viet Nam. 

 

After each of us graduated, Gary got a job at The Sacramento Union, a newspaper that eventually went out of business, unable to compete with The Sacramento Bee.  One day Gary invited me and a girl named Melanie to meet him at William Land Park for a photo shoot.  Melanie and I ended up on the front page of The Sacramento Union. 

 

Eventually, Gary left Sacramento and moved to San Francisco where he worked for many years for the San Francisco Chronicle. He founded Genesis Photo Agency and has developed an impressive resume over the years. 

 

Today, my longtime friend is also one of my many facebook friends, although he doesn’t post much.  He seems to keep quite busy with other things.



 

Clipping from the front page of The Sacramento Union in 1973.  Note the credit to the lower right of the photo:  Staff Photo by Gary Fong.

I taught a class at a college camp at Lassen Pines Christian Camp Ground in June 1974.  Gary was also there.  So was his camera.

Gary gave me a framed picture of a photo he took of a cross at Mount Davidson in San Francisco.  This photo has hung on a wall in every home I have lived in since 1975.

Bethany was only 6 months old when Gary took this photo at a winter conference at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center in December 1976.  The ring on my left hand can now be found on Belinda's right hand.

This article appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle on November 23, 1979.  A reporter named Judith Anderson wrote a story about a shop in San Francisco that made tables.  When the reporter arrived at the shop to do the story, she was accompanied by Chronicle photographer Gary Fong.  Gary did not know at the time that he was taking photos of my brother, Dean, who worked in the shop.  Dean is shown in the lower photo.  Also, note the credit in the lower photo:  Photos by Gary Fong.