“Munjoy Girls,” Munjoy Hill, Portland Maine, 1973 by Mark Rockwood is displayed in his show, “Street Play.” Contributed / Photo by Mark Rockwood

When Mark Rockwood snapped photos of kids in Munjoy Hill in the 1970s, he had no idea that the images would become an exhibit – let alone that he would show them on the Hill 50 years later.

On display now at The End of Portland, a bar at 229 Congress St., is “Street Play,” a collection of Rockwood’s photos showing Portland children of the ’70s posing in the road, playing with makeshift toys, and smoking cigarettes on the streets of Munjoy Hill. The images are carefully framed through his lens, in what Rockwood calls a visual language that he has carried throughout his career as a commercial photographer.

“I didn’t think about it as much at the time, but looking back, when I started to dredge these out of my archives, it was like, ‘Wow, this looks like a lot of the work I’ve done since then,’” said Rockwood.

“Alley Fishing,” Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine 1973. Contributed / Photo by Mark Rockwood

As Rockwood began contemplating both retiring from his 43-year photography career and moving away from Portland a few years ago, he went through his archive of film negatives and put together “Street Play.” Rockwood said the show gives some closure to his photography career and to his time in Portland 50 years ago that kickstarted his journey taking photos.

Rockwood first came to Portland in 1969 to study painting and sculpture for a semester at the Portland School of Fine and Applied Art, which is now the Maine College of Art and Design. Deterred from these media, he bought a camera at Bicknell Photo Service on Congress Street and began exploring his vision through the lens.

He left the city and, in 1972, returned to Portland, working odd jobs and taking photos of everything around him, he said. It was then he started capturing photos of children in his East End neighborhood.

“The kids were skeptical, but they saw me enough. And I was around enough about the third time they saw me, I was just background,” said Rockwell.

Rockwood emphasized how this uncertain, growth-filled time of his life made him feel similar to the children he was capturing on the street.

“I felt so connected to these kids because they were trying to figure it out. I mean, they were in that horrible in-between, from little kids wanted to be big kids and the big kids wanted to be adults. And none of them were that,” said Rockwood.

“They were looking for identity, which is exactly what I was doing,” he said.

At the time, Rockwood was battling self-doubt, fueled by his desire to be a professional photographer. It was the photo series of children on the street that focused his scattered work, he said.

“It did a tremendous amount for organizing my brain,” he said.

“Cats On Doorstep,” Parkside, Portland, Maine 1975. Contributed / Photo by Mark Rockwood

In 1975, Rockwood left Portland to study photography at Southern Illinois University, later receiving an MFA in photography. His ensuing commercial photography career was mostly based out of the Portland area, with his vision returning to the distilled, attentively crafted image that he first discovered photographing children on the Hill, he said.

Rockwood started pulling out the photos in “Street Play” almost a decade ago, when other photographers suggested he submit to a 2010 group show at the art gallery Zero Station called “Seeing Portland — 1970 to 1984.”  The memories conjured by the photos stuck with Rockwood and he wanted to show this complete work, he said. After walking into The End of Portland, Rockwood decided that the authenticity of the neighborhood bar fit perfectly with the subject matter and era of his photo series.

The show at Zero Station was the first time that someone recognized a child from Rockwood’s photos, he said. A woman saw her cousin in the photo of three children playing in a dirt pile.

“She was like, ‘Oh my heavens’!” said Rockwood. “He had died a few years before.”

Others have recognized people they knew on Munjoy Hill 50 years ago at “Street Play” in The End of Portland as well, sharing with Rockwood their memories of that time in the neighborhood. Rockwood now hopes to find the names and contact information of all the former children in the show.

“It’s been wildly bigger than I expected. I mean bigger in a sweet, personal way. There are no floodlights,” said Rockwood. “It’s like you get to sit down with somebody, and they tell you the story of their family. That’s big and real.”

Rockwood has also attempted to track down the locations of all his photos. However finding the perfect match is difficult for many images because the buildings no longer exist, he said.

Rockwood also said he could not create these types of photos today, as children are more camera savvy and there is more skepticism of strangers, especially those taking photos of children.

“Two Seater,” Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine 1972 Contributed / Photo by Mark Rockwood

“The minute [the adults] knew you lived in the neighborhood, you were golden,” he said. “I mean, it’s such a funny, sad change.”

While Portland street photographers today may have to find a different subject matter, Rockwood said the most transformative work is just getting in the practice of taking photos all the time and forgetting about the future of the images.

“Never think of where it’s gonna go. Never think it’s gonna be a gallery show. Never think it’s gonna be a book,” said Rockwood. “Just do it if you want to do it, if you feel the desire to do it, and it develops a life of its own. And this is the perfect example.”