{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/v97zk57d9t/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Thomas Studio; Thomas Scilipoti, 1994-07"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/053/original/cropped-marmia-logo-copy1.png?1586173104","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://marmia.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/25730"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["1994-07 (Creation)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Be advised that this video may contain sensitive, triggering, and offensive language and content. (Content warning)","Digitized with funding provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources' \"Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices\" grant program. (Funding note)","Thomas Scilipoti disucsses being a portrait photographer, growing up in Baltimore, and the Baltimore Camera Club. (Scope and Content Note)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["1 Betacam"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["WJZ-FLDTP-006-011 (Identifier)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Series Title"]},"value":{"en":["Field Tapes"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Be advised that this video may contain sensitive, triggering, and offensive language and content.","Digitized with funding provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources' \"Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices\" grant program.","Thomas Scilipoti disucsses being a portrait photographer, growing up in Baltimore, and the Baltimore Camera Club."]},"provider":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["MARMIA"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["MARMIA"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/053/original/cropped-marmia-logo-copy1.png?1586173104","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/253/895/small/thumbnail_253895_1728350502.jpg?1728350504","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20250109-552-al1kpd.mp4"]},"duration":1270.76,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/253/895/small/thumbnail_253895_1728350502.jpg?1728350504","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-marmia.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/253/895/original/open-uri20250109-552-al1kpd.mp4?1736438021","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1270.76,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["AUTO_TRINT_WJZ-FLDTP-006-011.mp4 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I know I might not get one, but I'm just turned off. I hate to do it, but I don't pick up. Yeah, sure. As I'm standing here getting. All right. Now, first off, let me have your name. Your first name. Thomas. And you go by Thomas Studio. And your last name? Shelagh Purdy. Spell it for me. As c i l i p o t i. Now say it again. Show up early. Okay. Do you go by Tom Thomas or what? No, I go by Tom. That's what they call me. Do you have a nickname? Yeah. What is that? Mazi. Mazi. Mazi de Marzo. Okay. Now you have. I got a call. Somebody suggested that you might be as far as photography. You mean you may have started taking pictures before? I did? And I started in 1955. When did you pick up your first camera? I picked up my first camera I was at. Let me see how old I was. I had to be about 15. 16. So you were a teenager, and, hell, all that happened. I belong to Saint Leo's social club. And Father Joe, who was in charge of the club at that time, had a little dark room in the rectory and invited some of the boys over to see how film processing is done. And I went over and I got interested. And from that point on, I got hooked in photography. But prior to that, you wanted to be a barber? Yes, I was a barber. I became a barber, licensed barber in 1949. And from there my shop and I was doing photography and boring at the same time, photography as a hobby and barbering as a profession. And gradually, after 15, 16 years in the barber business, self-employed, I decided to take the leap and make my photography, my dedication.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=5.36,144.1"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I did from that point on. Well, it's just the same darling that used to be in the barber shop. No, I had my barber shop in my home. The. I'd say Now you were your first camera. Do you recall? Was a Nancy Go 620 purchase at Ridge on Broadway. And my father took me up there and he purchased it for me, which was a big deal at that time. It kind of changed your life, didn't it? Very much so. Very much so, yeah. I really got hooked on that when I started developing and seeing the results. It really enlightened you. So you've been taking pictures around Baltimore. Now you're you're a portrait photographer. Obviously. You've been you've been taking a lot of portraits over the years. But but one of your your main loves maybe not. Maybe not the thing that earns you a living, but you what are your loves is just going around and seeing something that you enjoy and popping the top and the button on the camera. Yeah, I joined the Belmar camera Club. Ben Cooper owns camera more on Harford Road, so that I was involved in photography and she just joined a bomber camera club, which I did. I came very active with the club. I won numerous awards with the club. And from that point on, I was out taking pictorial shots, submitting them and winning awards and what have you. And I was very happy to be a member of the Baltimore Camera Club, which is, by the way, one of the oldest in the country. You're a Baltimore boy. Yes. Born and raised here in Baltimore, in Little Italy. So you had to all your gang or guys that you hang around with from that area.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=145.51,255.91"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"They were my customers, both barbering and also portraits. But as a kid, you hung around with those guys and hung on to corners. Yes, very much so. We hung on Luke's corner and Lloyd Lee played sports. Played basketball. Baseball? Yes. And you even got some shots of football on the lot there. Yeah, we got football on the lot back in the 50s and down by the morning. You said it was the mortgage lot and you see the trains in the background and scarlet lumber and beer and everything, see, and everything. So you didn't need a nice grass, you know, in a park to get up the game of football. Back in those days, I know we had to go down there and scrape all the glass away from the ground and everything before playing grass and oyster shells. Glass and or shell. Yes, I remember that. You remember that, too. This is all day of the year. I'm right across the river down. We got the same dump trucks that they got in Little Italy. Right, right, right, right, right. So you're you're a Baltimore boy. Been here all your life. Right? And when you go out with your camera, explain to me, do you take your camera out to shoot or do you go out and take your camera with you in case you shoot? No, I go out and bring my camera with me in case I shoot, but I go around looking for particular shots. And if I see I like something, I'll wait for the proper time, the lighting in the sun, whatever I'm looking for, and go back and redo it again. Make sure I get it right. And then who was a member of the board camera club? You suggested that any time you see anything that you like and it's not proper, just make a note of it and go back in to it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=256.66,378.84"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"When you think you like winning, it's good, which I do a lot of times. Wait for the like to wait for the right. Like, yeah, that's a good tip for anybody who wants to take a good picture. You, you know, have a notebook and jot down. You see something that you like. And if playing it right, go back when I hope to maybe end this piece with a montage of some of your work. Not necessarily in any order. Tell me tell me when you when you when you look over your life's work. I mean, and it's it's not all here right now, I'm sure. But when you when you're flipping through it, like when you were showing me, tell me what goes through your mind when you look at your work life pass you by so fast you really get a lot of memories. But you've been fortunate enough to be a man with a camera and you've recorded those images of years ago for posterity for anyone to see. Is that make you feel real good? Real good. Like I say, I hope that the work I've done, people will appreciate. I did a lot of weddings, the low yearbook photography. I shot a lot of students here in his Bulger and also Annapolis, John Carroll and Blair, Harford County and what have you. I've been around. And like I said, I did a lot of portraits of other students. And it makes me feel good, especially when they said my mother. So you took their wedding. That's how about that? I look at the name I see inside the. And the pictorial. The scenes of Baltimore years ago, the the shots of the ships, the the the hockey man. But you hardly ever see, it seems to me, when you flip through those old works of art, as I would like to refer to them version of it, what goes through your mind? How time has changed? As time has changed, You look back and you see the streets.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=379.42,512.23"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You see the buildings and you see what's coming up so fast and so good makes you really say I was there. I appreciate that. And of course, there will be always other folks who will take a look at your work and appreciate it also. I hope so. I hope so. It's not over for you yet. No, no, no, no. I hope not. Don't you have a few more images you want to lay on some film? Yeah. I'm always doing that out on my boat. And I'm taking more nautical shots than ever and trying to get them published or whatever. Yeah. So you may at some point retire from portrait work. But as far as carrying a camera with you and going out looking for the pretty sea, it's still there and that'll be with you. And until you the bug is still there. Like I say, you get the bug that stays with you. All right? I know how I feel. I explain to you the first time in Denver, Colorado, when I was in the dark room and I saw the image appear that in the suit it was a moment of magic that I've never forgotten. When you when your dad bought the camera and and you and you went to that camera club sponsored by what, Saint Leo's church? Yeah. What was going in your mind? I mean, did you know then that this was it for you? It really, when you first see the name to be in process and then when you get the image underneath you and then you get the print, you say this is really a miracle coming up this way. But yeah, I really got the then and it stayed with me over the years. Yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=512.86,611.83"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So what's next? What's next? You know, I don't know. Sit back and enjoy what I've been doing. You're going to roam around the area and always roam around the area. I'm always around Fells Point, and lately I've been doing a whole lot of stuff on and I hope to get more of it published. So if the folk see a a man my age with gray hair and a camera, they may look again and he looks like he knows what he's doing. Then they come up and say, Hello, Tom or Yes, yes, I'll be glad to say hello and I'll put that in your own words for me again, just that, you know. So, I mean, you're still going to you're still going to be out on the street downtown, maybe around the waterfront here, there and everywhere. So if if folks do run into, you know what I mean, would they bother you if they said hello, Tom? No, Heck no. No. I really appreciate that. They come up and say hello to me. Makes me feel good. Especially say they saw it on Channel 13. And I mean, if they have a question about photography, I'll be glad to answer it. That's how I learned. I learned by trial and error. And you're asking a lot of questions at the camera clip. So if the if you're out somewhere with a camera and somebody comes up and said, excuse me, what are you after, there are you'll take time to explain to our definite definite. I mean, that's how you learn. I was self-taught, by the way. Maybe even give them an F stop or to tell me anything you want to know. I think that when I do the sunrises mostly every day, and I found that your sunrises are my my most important piece of photographic equipment to do sunrises.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=615.89,730.1"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Is the alarm clock okay? How do you feel about that? That sounds good. Thank you. That that line. I know you will be getting up there, Right? Right, right. A lot of times I'm on the boat and I just get up and before the sun comes up and just wait and see what's coming up. The clouds are nice and whatever you do, get a nice sunrise. Well, when you were younger, walking around with your camera and got some of them terrific shots where you just kind of like wandering around or were you looking for something specific? No. Being a member of the Mormon Camera Club, every month we had competition and every month they would designate a certain field to cover, and then we would go out as individuals and go out and see what you come up with for that months competition. And we did that, and that's how I got a lot of my shots by going around and looking for. So I would think you would suggest to anyone who wanted to be better than average photographer to get involved with a club that that where you have to compete. Right. I strongly suggest that you learn a whole lot and you exchange a lot of information between one another and a lot of the members as a whole. All the members, I would say, are open minded. They'll tell you anything how to do it if you're doing it right, wrong or suggest different ways of doing it. You all you're definitely join the camera club and compete and compete that forces you to get out there and use you. You'll see your work improve on a percent because you're seeing other people's work, you're competing with them and whatever. And also, you know, your eye is trained.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=731.09,837.05"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"What's your favorite photograph? My favorite. Yeah. I have to say, I got so many. Do you have a certain topic that you prefer shooting than than any other topic? I like portraits. I started out with portraits. I used to go on Charles Street to back wrecks, look at their window, look at their lighting and bring you back to the studio and try to duplicate it, which I did a lot of times, and that really trained me well. But like I say, I was self-taught and have somebody saying this is the way to do it. So you train your eye and practice and you're not done yet. And I'm not done yet. No. You got a few more images to photograph. A whole lot more, I hope, if God willing. Now I'm rolling. I'm not here. Okay, Miss Maria, Let me hear you say that, my son. Straight, please. All right. Just put one hand on top of the other. Relax. Here is natural. During the during the first season, I would have you looking in that direction. Okay. And give me a nice laugh, and I'll tell you when I'm ready. I will go ahead and do it. Okay. Hang on. That's beautiful. Build it with me. Good, good, good, good. Thanks. Hold it. Don't push this. Relax. Then I come over here. Yeah. Why don't you adjust your camera just a little bit, look through it, and then go over to. Okay. I have a rough day like that. You see what we got here? You know, we're just starting to turn a little bit of this arms over here. Nice. Relax. That's good. Keep your head in that direction. Look at my finger and pick out something on my wall. And there's where we're going to take you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=838.73,959.03"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Okay? Stay like that. All right, here we go. Looking at the right thing. Hold that for smile. Good. That's good. Stay like that. Look at my finger. That's a girl. Just like that. Relax your shoulders, please. That's it. Turn, Chin. That's a threat to it. Nice smile. Good. As good as do I. Hold it up. Okay. I'm ready. Stay like that, please. I'll be over the phone. Here, let me just. My camera. It looks good. Stay like that. Hold it. You get your hands, please. Just put them here like that. Relax them. Okay. Turn to you. Lean forward. Girl, look at my finger. I want you to look in that direction. There. That's good. What? Just relax your shoulders. Stay like that. A little like that. That's good. Nice smile. Good. That's good. Chin down a little bit. That's it. This is like a helmet. Let me see your front teeth. Hey, you put this. Put your lips together now. This one. Nice expression. Okay, print here. Okay. Hold it. Yeah. That's good. Stay like that. I mean, just turning yourself around for change. Changes like turning my body around. Please. Hold it right there. And chin. Just like that. And when you look right here, it really has to be like that. Now, that's good. Just like that. Hold like that. Nice smile. Good move. Very nice. Let's try that again. Okay. All that nice smile. Good. Put your lips together for on this one. Just took the head a little bit the other way. And turn chin water in that way. That's it. Good. Okay. Very good. You did a nice job there, Maria. Thank you. Thank you. This is the gang. A kid in Hong Kong. A gang leader. This is it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=959.11,1126.99"},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"This is the gang he hung with as a teenager. And there on the corner where Sabatino is now. That was the City Barber School on Baltimore Street and Marketplace. Right. And on the left side, all the way on the left. You know that thing? Yeah. I got my license at 49. That was about 28. 1948. Right. The city. Father Joe at St Leo's got an interesting. What he said, I was saying was that when you make an Internet crime high. He met his childhood sweetheart. 1945. Come. And they honeymooned in Atlantic City. Where were you married for a year. Married in 1950. 44 years ago. After two girls. Finally Mario came along and he got the chance to give his son his first haircut. That tradition in our family is the name, the first son, and the next big brother.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895#t=1127.17,1255.83"}]},{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["English [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://marmia.aviaryplatform.com/collections/948/collection_resources/136883/file/253895/transcript/71648/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"subtitling","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/file_transcripts/associated_files/000/071/648/original/trint_WJZ-FLDTP-006-011_transcript.vtt?1728353095","format":"text/vtt","language":"en"},"target":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/file_transcripts/associated_files/000/071/648/original/trint_WJZ-FLDTP-006-011_transcript.vtt?1728353095"}]}]}]}