Saturdays Online: Families Lost and Found

A sad story to report of Families Lost and Found, or more to the point Families LOST.

Old photographs preserve family history, which means all of our History. I remember reading that one of the major impacts of photography was that grand children were able to see the grand parent as young people and realized the lives they had in the past.    Before Photography everyone's grand parents (and maybe even their own parents) were just OLD.

The link reminds us to perhaps, get into your very senior Aunt or Uncle so-and-so's attic or basement and search for your Family's past.  And please don't throw away your history, even if the keeper of that history doesn't think it matters.

And a good story from Families sometimes Found.  If you read through "Forgotton Old Photos" you often see that people in the photos can be identified and sometimes connected to living relatives.

So I'll end with Family Friends:  Christopher and Blanche Blenman on their Wedding Day sometime in the 1920's (you can tell by their clothing).  He may also have gone by the name George.  I have both in my records. And if there are any Blenman's still out their in Brooklyn, NY.  I may have a photo of your grand parents.  Please get in touch.

Patio Revisted

 The Patio Tomatoes have finally ripened.

Tomatoes in Color

Taxi Yellow and Rosa Vetrov Tomatoes

Neighbor's Grapes

My Neighbor has an ornamental grape variety that has grown over the fence.  Makes for some nice foliage on an othrwise ordinary wood plank fence:

 

This is Mamiya 6X7 Full Frame.

Green Tomato #3: Basic Patio

I always grow at least one Patio Tomato because its a guaranteed producer:

These are just starting to turn red.  So I'll definitely have some Fall Tomatoes too.

Green Tomato #2: Rosa Vetrov

A Russian Tomato that starts out with a pear shape and ends up resembling a Roma Tomato.

Green Tomatoes #1: Taxi Yellow

I had so many green tomatoes for so long (before they all turned at once), I decided to photograph the Green Tomatoes, using a green filter to bring out the texture of the greenness..........

Here is a variety called Taxi Yellow.  Turned out to be a really prolific tomato:

Remember out posting on Medium Format Perfection?  All of the tomatoes That I will show you were cropped from Mamiya 6X7 Images.  And you can tell these definitely are not 35mm.

From the Bountiful Garden: Making Ratatouille

Haven't posted much from the Garden this year.  We've had bumper crops of tomatoes, pepers and eggplants.  Squash not so Great.  But over the weekend I tried something new that would combne all of my fresh garden ingredients:  Making Ratatouille

Tried 5 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.  All successful.

Love the Asian Eggplants.

 Anaheim Peppers for a change up on Green Bell Peppers.

Soft Stem Garlic.

Of course you also have onions and zucchini plus a red bell pepper 

(but I had to buy those at the store).

More from the Garden this week.

Saturdays Online: Clyde Butcher Comments on "Life in the Digital Fast Lane"

Ah, some of us can relate.  I am about to go on a field trip to photograph Colorado Ghost Towns.  And I can already see that the Itinerary and Time Lines are much to fast to really do much.  So we are planning an additional day to revisit places that need time to be "seen" completely.

Clyde Butcher, one of my photo influences, commented on a recent trip to Antelope Canyon.  A place, as he says "YOU could spend a lifetime photographing".

A Redux of our trip to Antelope Canyon

Take as much time as you need to compose the photo image AKA take time to smell the roses.  Two good images are worth more than 100 quick shots with your digital camera (And remember you still have to sort through those 100 shots to find the really good ones).  Digital doesn't demand quick shooting unless you are a photo journalist.  But people seem to think it does.

Wrapping up our first visit to Caribou............

Next week we'll move on to a neighboring ghost town: Cardinal, Colorado.

Caribou #5

Another view through a Window.  This time at the larger building:

Almost a Lifetime.......Caribou #4

Well, if not a lifetime, you could spend multiple visits re-shooting these two buildings.  We plan to return with less harsh light and also to do some full moon photography here.

The second smaller building shown here, has all 4 walls still standing.  You may notice, however, the smooth concrete inside providing stability.

Saturdays Online: The Photochrom Age

Hand Colored Images from the 1800's.  How many of us have (or have seen) old photos that were 'hand colored'?

These are great.........And a reasonably easy to understand explanation of what a PHOTOCHROM is. They were willing to do a lot of work to get color.  Why Are we so Lazy Now?

Didn't have any Photochromes lying around the house.  So I'll just have to leave you with another 'lost' film type:

Caribou Mine #3

The previous image had been cropped, although I did  not show the before and after.  Here I will show both:

One advantage of Medium and larger formats is that you have the resolution to 'zoom in by cropping'.  Above the crop and below the full frame.

Caribou Mine #2

I love looking through window to see the other side.  Click here to see one of my Favorite Ghost Town windows.

Below, another view of what was probably the Mine Office:

Caribou Mine, Colorado

We revisited the Caribou Mining District a few weeks ago.  There is an active silver mine still onsite.  But all that remains of the original town is a broken down cabin and two stone building ruins, that must have been Mine Offices.

As I have mentioned.  The theme for the rest of the summer is Ghost Towns.......More Ghosts on the way.

Saturdays Online: What Will Future Cinema Look Like?

And you ask what this has to do with still film photography?

Above, another 'Lost Forever Film' Kodak E100GX

Because left over motion picture film stock was repackaged and sold as 35mm film.  Processing of this film type produced both a positive and a negative.  For some of my old images using this film CLICK HERE.  For better or worse, All of my early slide photography was done suing this film.

Hollywood is going digital and Kodak remains the only manufacturer of motion picture film.  Some prominent Film Makers are negotiating a deal to keep motion picture film alive.

Why does all of this matter?

1. Because small "mom & pop" local film festivals are being forces to spend up to $100K on new digital projection equipment.  This is putting some Festival out of business.
2. As  fan of silent movies, I am aware of just what can be preserved (even fortuitously) by film, and later recaptured and restored.  90% of all Silent Movies ever made were lost because of the volatile nitrate films that were used.  Digital preservation is just as "volatile".
3. In a perverse twist Hollywood wants to record in digital and copy it to film for archival preservation.  But if there is no motion picture film, what then? 

 Just some food for thought.

Q:  Can you identify building in this photo?