Back to school in South Philly

This week Philly teachers were prepping for the start of a new school year and I went to Fanny Jackson Coppin School in South Philadelphia to photograph them hanging posters, arranging desks, taking new books out of boxes, and opening packages of supplies,

I walked from classroom to classroom, saying hi and introducing myself. Most were happy to have me come in and show the newspaper’s readers how they spend hours making their room feel welcoming and comfortable.

I was definitely feeling at ease by the time I got to the first grade classroom of teacher Lauren Cucinotta.

Because I wrote just last week about the senses triggering memories I was expecting all morning that what’s known as the “Proust phenomenon” would kick in. But it wasn’t the waxy smell of the crayons.

No, as a visual person it was the sight of a cup full of freshly sharpened pencils.

There is nothing more basic, more ordinary than a pencil — well except maybe for paper. But then we get into a chicken or the egg thing, and I don’t want to go there, so I’m sticking with pencil.

All those little points of graphite evoke a feeling of possibility. More than being ready to make the first marks of a new school year, I see them representing a clean slate (page) or even a new way to look at an annual recurring photo assignment.

You can’t see them in the photos, but for a moment even the erasers at the other end of the pencils evoke memories of my own first days of school and remind me that yesterday’s mistakes do not have to follow me into today, that there is always something new to see and photograph.

That’s enough naval gazing for one column, so let’s talk about this week’s installment of my colleague Elizabeth Wellington’s series highlighting a Philly “first” for the ongoing celebration of America’s 250th birthday. This week celebrated the first selfie still in existence, which was taken in Philadelphia in 1839.

They were first called self-portraits and before smartphones they involved putting cameras on tripods or tabletops and using timers or long cable shutter releases. Photographers — especially after small 35mm cameras came along — did use a wide-angle lens with the “extend your arm” technique and the first I can remember seeing was when our wedding photographer took one of himself with me and my bride.

That’s a cherished selfie, but my all-time favorite selfie is one with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker when I spent time with him in Iowa during his short-lived 2020 presidential campaign. And since then, often on his home turf, in New Jersey. You can see me in the background — right behind the helpful photography tip a supporter’s cell phone offered (he cleared the message before taking the photo).

Which brings me to a few other photos to share from this week:

And a story I wrote this week on viral French singer-songwriter and animal advocate Loris Assadian, known as Plumes, who sang for tortoises at the Philly Zoo.

Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column.