For anyone that hasn't seen any of my past posts on this forum, I'll just start by acknowledging that I am a "reel junkie", and since I handled my first Bogdan in the fall of 2006 I've been bitten pretty hard by the Bogdan Reel bug……
Since 2006 I have experienced a fairly surreal run of luck and good fortune in putting together a small collection of really neat (at least to me) reels from Stan's early years of reel building. I had posted a collage photo back in April of this year showing the innards, front & back of a few of these early Bogdans and after doing so received a suggestion from Pat Garner "pcg" on the Classic FLy Rod forum that this subject matter would make a neat print/poster.
I liked the idea and decided to try and put together an 18x24 inch print to celebrate Stan's early work, using photos of reels that I have including: a circa 1945 Prototype, circa 1946 Prototype, an early 1950's Model 0, a 1961 Model A&F200M, and a circa 1965 Experimental Steelhead Model with an external rim brake. Through a lot of trial and error and after taking more than 500 shots of the reels, I ended up with front, innards, and backside photos of these five reels that I was happy with to use in a print/poster.
In correspondence with Dave Rust (a friend of Stan's and the gentleman that is responsible for much of the photography in the Bogdan book), he suggested and put me in contact with a great printer in Buffalo NY and I had a limited series of 25 copies printed with archival inks and archival paper. Dave talked to Stan about the project and to my delight Stan said he'd be happy to sign and number them... Stan is a real class act.
The only problem was going to be getting them to Stan …… in the end, Dave actually drove them from Buffalo NY to Nashua NH for me so that Stan could sign them between getting back from one Salmon trip and heading off for his next! Talk about going out of your way for someone you've only corresponded with via letters and phone calls, Dave is an amazing guy! He was also kind enough to take some photos of Stan signing the prints since I wasn't able to be there.
I gave Stan & Dave as many copies as they wanted and I've given the rest away, except for a few I've kept and set aside for the ASF. I have no intentions to ever sell any.
Who knows what the rest of my life has in store for me, but to date, the way this project came together qualifies for me as "my 15 or at least 5 minutes of Bogdan related reel fame"
Here are some photos showing the print before signing, and of Stan doing his part to make it special
Mark B
[/img]