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The high speed shutter of the Nikon camera opens and closes quickly and nearly silently. In 1/500th of a second the image of a young girl with a brightly colored straw western hat has been captured on film and in the history of the Oregon Jamboree and she doesn’t even know it.
Photographer Lloyd Mutinsky has just etched her image on film.
The little girl’s world is focused on the music of Martina McBride, but Mutinsky’s world is composed of F-stops, light meters aand film speeds all told through shadows and light.
Much of his 65 years has been spent viewing the world through the view finder of a camera, from his first Kodak Bantam to the sleek black world-class Nikons that he carries for special events such as the recent Oregon Jamboree.
Mutinsky has spent the better part of six decades capturing the happy and tragic events of life—capturing on film the view of the average working stiff to the guarded world of the rich and famous.
Although he’s now retired after a long career as a court recorder in California and Oregon, Mutinsky has flirted with photography since his first blush with fame. A one column photo of a high school beauty contest winner was published in the San Leandro (California) Morning News.
“I shot the photo with my Kodak Bantam 828,” Mutinsky explained, showing off the camera he still owns.
For someone who admits photography was never a burning passion, Mutinsky has collected boxes and albums filled with negatives of luminaries such as Richard Nixon (then vice president of the US), Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, Jack Benny and Jayne Mansfield among others.
His prowess at capturing the image of the moment earned Mutinsky passage into the world of author Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion).
“I actually shot his son’s wedding and they were so happy, he loaned me his cabin at Yachats,” said Mutinsky, who has lived on five acres on Turbyne Road since 1975.
Perhaps it was more good fortune than planning that pushed the only child of an accomplished engineer and homemaker into photography.
“Our high school was across the street from the town’s newspaper,” Mutinsky said.
In those days, 1954, the newspaper contracted with a local photography studio for photos. “After that first photo was published, I started hanging out with the guys who had the newspaper contract,” Mutinsky said. “I’d help them shoot weddings on the weekends and on my own.”
In his third year at San Jose State University, Mutinsky (who was studying to become a police officer) received a phone call from an editor at the Oakland Tribune.
“I found out I was too short at 5’8″ to be hired by most police departments,” Mutinsky said. “So, when I was offered the chance to work at the Tribune, I took it.”
He was paid $24 per shift, plus $4 for any photo that was published.
“I remember my best day I had four photos published and I earned $40 total,” Mutinsky said. “It was a good day.”
In 1958, cellular phones were unheard of but Mutinsky vividly remembers being issued his first set of mobile radios.
“They were as big as suitcases and took up half of my car’s trunk space,” Mutinsky said.
Mutinsky acted as both a reporter and photographer. His most pleasant memory of the time was photographing Mary Ann Mobley, the Alabama girl who was named Miss Football of 1958. She went on to be named Miss America in 1959.
“She had an outstanding personality,” Mutinsky said.
His worst assignment? Covering an airplane crash.
“I had never smelled burning flesh before,” Mutinsky said, his voice falling quiet. “I still can’t forget that.”
In 1961, Mutinsky moved to Marysville, Calif. where he worked for the Appeal-Democrat newspaper.
Although he enjoyed the excitement of the newspaper business, he was quickly realizing it didn’t pay well.
He was lured back to the Bay area and a career change after he covered a district court proceeding.
“I could see where the money was,” Mutinsky said with a grin.
He again called upon his skill with a camera to keep food on the table, shooting weddings on weekends to pay for his four years of schooling to become a court recorder.
“In my first six months of court work, I earned enough money to make up for all four years of schooling,” Mutinsky said.
He worked for judges in Redwood City, Sacramento and Oakland.
In 1974 and his former wife, purchased property near Sweet Home, after realizing they wanted to move out of the ever-growing Bay area.
“I realized that I couldn’t stand typing ‘Hey, man’ the rest of my life,” Mutinsky said of the changing California culture.
Mutinsky landed a job in Eugene with Judge William A. Beckett, a position he held until 1996, when he retired.
“Court recording is a good, interesting job,” Mutinsky said. “I had the opportunity to mix with educated people who became my friends.”
Photography, Mutinsky said, has allowed him to peer into lifestyles most persons will never see.
For example, Mason Williams, the writer of Classical Gas, calls on Mutinsky when he wants concert photos taken. Mutinsky gets an up close seat and open access to the music makers.
Recently, Mutinsky’s camera skills were put to use on his home turf, as he was the official photographer for the 10th Oregon Jamboree.
“I shot about 13 rolls of film. It was a lot of work,” said Mutinsky, passing out close up photos of Montgomery Gentry, Martina McBride and Keith Urban, among others.
Mutinsky admits he isn’t a portrait photographer. He likes capturing people in their natural surroundings.
Those photos tell the real story, he says.
When he isn’t taking photographs, Mutinsky enjoys square dancing and belongs to a club in Springfield.
Even during his time of relaxation, Mutinsky can’t escape the camera. When his fellow square dancers learned of his shooting skills, they talked him into taking photographs of the state’s annual square dance convention. He now has numerous magazines filled with photo spreads he shot.
“What can I say,” Mutinsky says. “I’m a people watcher.”
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