Go back to 1848

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Go back to 1848

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:51 am

Daguerreotypes were some of the most incredibly sharp photos, and here's a link to prove it:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/09/20/129990964/once-in-a-lifetime-river-tour-starts-here-unfortunately-everybody-s-dead
Cincinnati in 1848.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby heckydog » Sat Nov 06, 2010 12:40 pm

Good find! I love looking at old photos. Makes you wonder if we are really progressing in the right direction with our digital cameras. :wink:

Try here, http://www.shorpy.com/ if you like to view old pics. Most of them will have a link to the full size picture.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:44 pm

Joe, thanks for reminding me about Shorpy. I have it bookmarked, but after a while, bookmarks end up rather like a junk drawer that one should go rummaging through now and then to find all the lost treasure.

I love old photos with a passion and once spent an entire month designing filters for my camera that would turn any image into something that looked like it was taken in the 1800's. Most recently, I designed the "Sepia Days" set to turn today's photos into yesterday's out of that same old-photo love.

No camera has taken such detailed, pin-sharp photos since the Daguerreotype, but maybe someday.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby TC Time » Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:02 pm

Thanks for sharing these old photos/sites. I am currently working on a heritage show of my Mom's family and was given a couple photos with ghost images. I wasn't sure whether it was an exposure issue or deterioration in the photo itself, as they're close to 100 years old. OH my...I hadn't really given much thought to the actual age of the photo gems in my possession until just now! :D
I love old photos too!! The issue I'm grappling with is whether or not to restore them. I am partial to the aged look as it gives a real sense of the "old photo".
8) TC
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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby heckydog » Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:07 pm

TC Time wrote:I love old photos too!! The issue I'm grappling with is whether or not to restore them. I am partial to the aged look as it gives a real sense of the "old photo".
8) TC


If it was me, I would say repair maybe, restore no. iow, if there's a crack going across someone's face try and fix it, otherwise let the photo tell it's own story.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby trulytango » Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:37 am

Great links, guys!

On Shorpy, there's a fascinating picture called 'Inspection Room, Ellis Island 1910'... where there was a very organised and civilised queing system it would appear. Compare that to today's winding, taped-off areas where you quickly lose the will to live.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby BarbaraC » Sun Nov 07, 2010 3:57 am

TC, I agree with Joe. The look of age--including the damage--is part of the story in a photo. In the world of antiques, the item loses its worth if it's refinished because doing so erases its intrinsic value, turning it into something closer to a reproduction. If you love old photos, keep them old.

As to ghost images, it reminds me of the photo I have from the early 1900's, one I'd looked at off and on since I was a little kid until just a few years ago when I digitized it with the thought of both preserving it and giving it a touch more clarity. When I blew it up, I was surprised to find two small children way in the background watching the photographer taking the picture. In the actual photo, those children were all but invisible. Those children added a whole new dimension to the photograph.

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby TC Time » Sun Nov 07, 2010 11:38 am

Thanks Barbara & Joe...I was hoping I would get that suggestion!
Great Grandma & all look great the way they are!
Barbara, I'm going to enlarge some of the photos to see if I find any unexpected things! Love it, it's like a treasure chest! Thanks!!
8) TC
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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby TC Time » Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:07 pm

Iris, I went in and took a look at the Shorpy Inspection Room photo you mentioned...very interesting! My family had the privilege of visiting this place two years ago. We discovered my grandfather had come through Ellis Island from Italy on his way to Canada. (They have computers for you to search names). My son became so interested in all the history because his great grandfather had walked there before he had. This was his most memorable place of all the sites we saw in NY! One of the things he wrote about in a recent essay was the shapes and sizes of the luggage. In the Shorpy photo, I was drawn to look at the luggage! I also noticed those on the second level that appear to be dressed in finer clothing. Photos truly speak volumes, don't they!
8) TC
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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby heckydog » Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:30 pm

On shorpy I like the pictures from 1900 to the 19-teens. It's a time period that's only about 100 years ago but in the grand scheme of things it's only a little blip in history.

It's fascinating to wonder about the lives these people must have led and that in all likelihood 99.99999% of them are no longer alive and yet they left their mark in history if for no other reason than somebody took their picture and I'm looking at it.

Am I in the background of someone's picture and will someone 100 years from now look at that photo on their holoscope viewer and wonder what kind of life I had?

I feel so tiny right now :( :wink:

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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby BarbaraC » Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:46 pm

I'll bet there are a lot of us who "fall into" old pictures. This summer while doing the garage sale thing, I came across a couple photos from the late 1800's that someone was selling because they didn't know who the people were in the photos. I was so tempted to buy those old pictures to give the souls a home, a place where I could think about them and imagine their lives, but I finally managed to pass on by. It was touch and go, though.

Some of you may have seen the show I did called "Her Name" which was about a great aunt who remained behind in Russia, choosing not to emigrate to the U.S. with the rest of the gang. The single photo was a stained, faded, sepia affair that said nothing more than "King's Bridge, 1898" on the back. No name. Originally, I didn't even know of her very existence, but then a cousin found out about her and then found another cousin who had this photo and didn't know who it was. Eventually, someone very old was discovered who knew her name. And that's when I did the show as a remembrance.

Well, this has certainly gotten some of us going, hasn't it? :D

Barbara
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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby debngar » Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:22 pm

BarbaraC wrote:-snip-.

Some of you may have seen the show I did called "Her Name" which was about a great aunt who remained behind in Russia, choosing not to emigrate to the U.S. with the rest of the gang. The single photo was a stained, faded, sepia affair that said nothing more than "King's Bridge, 1898" on the back. No name. Originally, I didn't even know of her very existence, but then a cousin found out about her and then found another cousin who had this photo and didn't know who it was. Eventually, someone very old was discovered who knew her name. And that's when I did the show as a remembrance.

-snip-
Barbara


I still love that show - simple but elegant epic story! :D
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Re: Go back to 1848

Postby BarbaraC » Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:42 pm

Thanks, Debbie. Funny, isn't it, how much longer it can sometimes take to do a simple show?

I think there isn't a single family history that's been shared that I haven't watched. I love seeing the old photos and and somehow remembering these people I've never met.

Barbara
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