My Grandpa, Ed J. LeClaire took this wonderful portrait of himself! Isn't he handsome? He worked with a Roleflex medium format camera. He was a stage prop artist for Paramount Studios in Hollywood for almost 20 years in the 20's and 30's. Prior to that he was a student at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington with Bing Crosby. They hung out together and played in a "Big Band" together. Bing was one of 3 drummers and my Grandpa was one of 5 Banjo players. They were kicked out of school together and were quite the wild bunch! After his Hollywood stint...he moved back to Spokane and went to work at "Neon Sign Company" as a sign painter and hand painted huge murals all over Spokane, some of which are still in existence. He was an incredible artist and his photography was his play time. Although he never made photography a career in any way...he continually won many awards with his photographs...for obvious reasons. I stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa every summer and Grandpa had his own darkroom in the basement and he taught me so much. I hung out in there all the time and he let me play with the enlarger and do my own stuff. He taught me alot of nifty tricks with netting, lace, etc to get interesting effects. He was an odd and unconventional character...and somewhere is a photograph he took of himself in a pair of those old striped long Johns with a pillow in his drawers, standing on his hands on the handlebars at the edge of the edge of the Grand Canyon!!! He did alot of crazy self portraits and as I find them I will post them. I hope you all enjoy his work and it warms my heart to share it finally with the world...or at least a few more people that otherwise would never even know of his existance. In my book...he should have been famous...and in my mind....he is!