Culver City Trash, In Color

To me, the least interesting of the Culver City Trash Collection.  (Click in labels, of course.)  Anyway, the top photo is the only one of the bunch with any identifying marks, a date, "JAN 83"

Culver City Trash, European Trip 3

Is there more than one Tower Bridge in England?  Perhaps one kept up for the tourist trade?  Is it just me, or do the proportions look off on the top picture?  It looks like the top two images are from England, at least the Ye Olde England tourists love.  The others, I'm not so sure.

Anyway, I may never get another chance to quote Noel Coward, so here goes...."The stately homes of England we proudly represent.  We only keep them up for Americans to rent."

Click on Culver City Trash collection for more.

Culver City Trash, European Trip 2

Well, we're still in Paris.  At least the top four photos.  The generic building in the bottom shot could be from a lot of places.  All that grain and moodiness makes me think of some of my favorite movies from the French new wave.  Breathless anyone?

Click on Culver City Trash Collection in labels to see more.  

Culver City Trash, European Trip 1

Nothing written on any off these photos but labels aren't necessary to know these images are from Paris.  I really suggest clicking on the photos and bringing them up in a larger window.  All that grain is kind of fascinating.

Click on Culver City Trash Collection, etc.

Culver City Trash, Family Dinner

Things do change.  Just a few weeks ago, I was complaining about how few examples of true found photography, pictures literally found on the street, I have in the collection.  And then, I had an early morning work day in Culver City, I was walking to my job, passed a dumpster in front of a thrift shop, filled with stuff that was so worthless it was being tossed, and there they were, old photos.  Some were so far down in the bin I wasn't willing to go diving, some were damaged beyond use, and some were covered in slime so vile even I wasn't willing to clean them off, and I have a pretty strong stomach.   Anyway, this one is the first of the lot.  I'll be putting them up, without interruption, so it's probably not necessary, but they'll all be tagged Culver City Trash Collection in labels.  

Views of the World, Market Day, Daijeeling, India

First of all, it's Darjeeling, not Daijeeling.  Whether it's a misprint, or the postcard's publisher didn't know the difference....well, who knows.

 As communities in India go, Darjeeling is a fairly recent one.  It started out as a hill station in the mid nineteenth century.  In a nutshell, India can be a pretty hot place, and it wasn't uncommon for the British occupiers to come up sick from heat, malaria, and a whole host of other nasty stuff that significantly shortened their lives.  So, build mini resorts with English architecture, gardens, food, fun, and drink.  Build them high enough in the Himalayan foothills so that things were cool enough to recall an English autumn, and with any luck, fewer soldiers and diplomats dropping dead.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from the series.  

Views of the World, Bengali Girls In Eden Garden, Calcutta India

Coincidentally, I've just finished reading Calcutta, by the Indian author, Amit Chaudhuri.  It's a wonderful book that I highly recommend.  And by the way, Chaudhuri rejects the new spelling, Kolkata.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards in the series.

Views of the World, Over Battlefields, Liaoyang, Manchuria

There have been a lot of wars in Manchuria.  It just seems to be one of those areas that people are willing to kill and die for, for no real reason that I can see.  The battlefields depicted on this card are from the Russo-Japanese War.  Technically speaking the Russians lost, since they were forced to withdraw, but the Japanese had incurred such heavy losses that they were unable to chase down the retreating Russians and finish the job.  The battle was fought from August 24 through September 3 1904.  The Russo-Japanese War was famous for being the first war where an Asian power was able to defeat a European power.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from this series.

Views of the World, Imperial Mausoleum Mukden, Manchuria

It's time to return to The Views of the World postcard collection.  I promise, done by the new year.

Manchuria is an area in northeast China.  Mukden, now known as Shenyang, was the imperial seat of the Qing Dynasty.  The imeprial mausoleum is in Dongling Park, and is the final resting place of Nurlach and Xiaoci Gao Yehenala, Emperor and Empress of Manchuria from 1559-1626.  Nice stone elephant.

Click on Views of the World in labels to bring up other cards in the series.

Happy Cows

Remember the California Milk Commission commercials about happy cows and happy milk?

Anyway, I know a lot of vegan, animal lovers, animal rights types and they're always telling me about how intelligent animals are, almost always comparing animal intelligence to human intelligence.  Having grown up in a small rural town, having worked on farms, and being an avid hiker backpacker who has seen plenty of animals up close, I always point out that we are all intelligent in the way we need to be to survive, and it's foolish to compare people and, let's say cattle.  Still, I can't help but wonder, is the one cow saying to the other, "I hate being all penned up in a zoo.  Ah, to run free."  While the other replies, "Well, we're not being eaten here, so stop complaining."  

Another contact print with glass negative from Toronto.  Perhaps the Toronto Zoo.

Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Poultry)

Yes it is a birdman and he loves his poultry.  But does he love eggs or meat?  Anyway, this one goes back awhile.  I can remember purchasing the glass negative and this contact print at a flea market in Toronto, Ontario.  I had an Uncle who lived in the city, and from time to time, I'd get dumped on his front step.

One of these days, I'll have to dig out the neg and make a print of my own.

What's This Thing?

Gotta love this one.  We've got a guy, on a boat, holding a Polaroid in one hand, and what looks like it could be a camera case, a conventional film camera case, in the other.  He's got this "I don't like instant photography" look.

I used the color restoration setting on the scanner on this one.

True Found Photography

When I write about found photography, I'm writing about photographs found at flea markets, antique stores, and on line.  Every once in a while, I run across true found photography.

Anyway, I was walking to the store, it was trash day, and I found this crumpled image next to a freshly emptied bin.  Who knows why it was tossed out.  Perhaps it was accidentally swept up with the cleaning, and someone spent the next weak searching for it.  Perhaps the relationship ended.   Maybe it was sent to some friend who kept for a few days and then tossed it.  Who knows.

The Last of the Tintypes, For Now

I'm sure, at some time in the future, I'll buy some more tintypes but for now, I've posted every one in the collection.  Despite their name, tintypes are actually printed on iron, hence the rust.

And Again, More Tintypes

In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, I'm posting the last of the tintypes from the collection.  Click on tin type in labels to see many more

Yet More Tintypes

The guy on the bottom must have offended someone.

More Tintypes

Over the years, I've posted a number of tintypes.  I'm fairly certain that I've never scanned these ones before, but if any of them turn out to be repeats, well so it goes.  Something's clearly wrong with the emulsion on the bottom two, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.

Winter Scene

An amazing image and almost certainly a mistake.

Tiny Pictures 3

No more tiny pictures for awhile.  Enjoy.

Tiny Pictures 2

The two ovals on this strip are just a little bit bigger than my thumbnails, and my hands aren't abnormally large.  I'm always amazed when I realize that something this small and delicate has survived for, at least, 100 years.

Tiny Pictures 1

I run across these small strips of photos, from time to time.  At first, I thought they must have come from some sort of photo booth, which didn't really make any sense.  It's true that camera manufacturers were making self developing systems in the late 19th century,  but they were very expensive, very unreliable, and very rare.  I latter found out that camera makers offered film holders with a movable slide.  Take one photo on a glass plate, move the slide and take another image, then process and contact.  And, of course, there were cameras made with multiple lenses that could make multiple exposures at the same time.  This isn't one of those.  If it was, both exposures would be the same.

Woman With Dog

This is the second of my two new, ash tray smelling, framed photographs, and now that they're both scanned and uploaded I can put them in a box and smother the odor.  There's nothing written on the frame or photo, but the chin looks similar, so maybe it might be an older version (As in a picture taken years latter.) of Bess Gilbert.  It makes sense since the photos are from the same source and both have that distinctive tobacco smell.