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Member Profile: THAINE MANSKE
I
started out working for my Dad as an electrician's helper while I was
in the 6th grade. When I received my first paycheck I used the money
to by a Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20. I took a lot of gag pictures with
that camera. A friend and myself were taking a roll of film to the local
portrait studio to have it processed.  We
walked past our 9th grade math instructor's house. He was outside working
on his car. He asked where we were headed and I mentioned that we were
going to have some film processed. He offered to process the film if
we would help him grade math papers.
Seeing
that first print come up in the darkroom was like magic to me. Shortly
thereafter I got a job at the portrait studio in 1951. When people ask
me "How long I have been in photography?" I kind of get a
kick out of telling them 50 years.
I
was invited to be on the annual staff my junior and senior year of high
school and my first year of junior college. I realized how many doors
that opened.
I
worked in a cotton gin after my senior year and then as a roughneck
in the oil field after my first year of college.
 I
was accepted at the Art Center College of Design in the fall of 1956
studying Advertising photography. I attended for 3 semesters and ran
out of money. In 1957 if you weren't in college you were going to be
drafted into the service. A fellow student and myself decided to see
the country before entering the service. We journeyed from San Francisco
up the coast to Victoria B.C., then to Sandpoint Idaho, Yellowstone
Park, Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York City on bicycles. (English
3 speed Raleigh) The trip covered 5,252 miles. We crossed seven major
mountain ranges and I had 21 flat tires. We were both photographers
and took what I thought to be a lot of photographs. Completing the trip,
I hitchhiked home.
Two
weeks later, a friend set me up with a blind date. We double dated.
She didn't believe a word about my bicycle trip and didn't plan on having
another date with me. A week later, I talked her into going to El Campo
to meet my parents. She really liked my family, so I thought I had a
chance.
About
4 months later I talked her into letting me photograph her at the Houston
Zoo. She didn't like being photographed, so I told her that I wanted
to do some advertising photography on Cracker Jacks. I had her posing
with the box, opening the box, eating some Cracker Jacks, and opening
the prize in the bottom of the box. The prize was an engagement ring
that I had hidden in the bottom of the box.
One
year latter we were married. Rochelle is the best thing that ever happened
to me! I joined the Air National Guard to fulfill my military obligation.
We saved our money and moved to Los Angeles, where I went back to Art
Center. Don Klumpp and I were in the same class.
After college, my first job offer was in Dallas, where I worked for
6 months until the studio started having money problems. A college friend
told me about a job opening in a large advertising studio in Seattle.
I applied, got hired, and worked up there for 4 years. This was during
the Seattle World's Fair. While there, I gained a lot of experience
working with advertising agencies and design studios.
I
was involved with doing work for Georgia Pacific, International Paper,
Weyerhauser, Westin International Hotels, Olympia Beer, Rainier Beer,
Container Corporation and Eddie Bauer.
We
moved to Houston in the fall of 1965. My parents weren't getting any
younger and were missing seeing their grand daughter, Kim.
I
started my studio in January 1966. I included a lot of national work
in my portfolio.
I
found out what my 4 competitors were charging and set my prices 40%
higher. Photography has been very, very good for me.
I
have photographed in Canada, Mexico, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Saudi
Arabia, and 45 of the 50 American states.
I have had a lot of interesting assignments and challenges.
I
joined as a charter member of the Houston Chapter of the A.S.M.P. in
1979. I am a strong believer in belonging to an organization that has
done so much for our profession. The benefits that I have received are
a lot more than the yearly dues and I get a lot of referral work from
fellow members. I
was the third president of the Houston Chapter, following Bob Gomel
and Don Klumpp.
In
1996 I worked at Digital Photographic Interface doing digital photography.
In the spring of 1999, they had a cut back and I went back in business
for myself.
I
had visited one of our members, David Nance in the hospital following
his heart attack. He relayed his symptoms to me, one of which was a
pain between the shoulder blades. Six years later I developed those
same symptoms and went to the emergency room. I was in the middle of
having a heart attack. Thanks to David, and the doctors at Memorial
Southwest Hospital I am doing just fine.
I
had not had a checkup for 20 years until that attack. Now I have one
yearly. So friends, don't put off those yearly checkups, exercise, and
be more careful about what you eat.
We
now have 3 children, 2 son in laws, 1 daughter in law, and 5 grandchildren.
I agree with whoever said, "That if they'd known that grandchildren
were that much fun, they would have had them first."
My
daughter, Kim, a stylist is following in my footsteps. She has recently
begun doing environmental portraiture in addition to her styling work.
Courtney and Craig are both photographic hobbyists. All of which means,
that we are the recipients of many wonderful images of our grandchildren.
Three
Quotes:
"There
are only two lasting things we can give our children. One is roots...and
the other is wings."
"There
is hardly anything in the world that some man can not make a little
worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only
are this man's lawful prey." Attributed to John Ruskin
"There
is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us
that it hardly behooves the most of us to talk about the rest of us!"
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