The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: BEG on September 23, 2008, 10:27:13 AM
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My Mom sent me the following in an email. I thought I would share it with you all.
History Lesson:
If you're old (as some of us are) and love photography (as I do), you'll enjoy these old WPA photos. Kodachrome had a few problems at birth, but within a year or two became the premier color film of all time. Nothing has ever surpassed it for resolution and archival qualities. Sadly, it has essentially died out and only one lab in the world will still process it, and then only 35mm.
The WPA was a good thing for America at the time, and because they paid professional photographers to document the program we have a legacy of photographs, many in color, that realistically documented that period in our history. This site (link below) is well worth a look if you like history and photography.
The name of the instrumental accompaniment is Vaya Con Dios. I don't know who's playing it, but it doesn't sound like Floyd Cramer.
Great pictures from America 's past, click on the site below
http://www.openmyeyeslord.net/ALookBackInHistory.htm
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Very cool...it's amazing how different the color photos make things seem.
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Those pictures are so cool! I wish there were many more pictures and not so much commentary.
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Those pictures are so cool! I wish there were many more pictures and not so much commentary.
Or music! WHY do people do that to a website!????????????? ARRRGH!
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brings us the nice bright colors, give us the greens of summers, and makes you think all the world's a sunny day.
Just sayin'
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Kodachrome was great film. Beautiful colour resolution, fine grain. Best reds of any film ever made.
I have a digital camera, but it doesn't even come CLOSE to the quality of the old celluloid through Nikon glass.
You can still get it, I use it in my old Nikon FTN all the time.......Kodak has renamed it "Kodachrome Professional", and it requires refrigeration for long term storage, but there is really no substitute. As the OP states, the problem is, unless you have your own lab, processing is a bitch........
I recently challenged a professional photographer to shoot the exact same scene....him with his $5000 Nikon Digital, and me with my 1970 model FTN with Kodachrome (both with the same lens).....process both frames and enlarge both to 16 x 20, and compare the two prints.......suffice it to say that he is a believer now........for big enlargements, excellent color rendition, and fine detail, there is no substitute for film.......
doc
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It makes me think of that old Simon and Garfunkel song "Kodachrome" with a smile.
Digital photography is convenient, but I've dealt with the real pros at what used to be called Defense Mapping Agency, then named National Image Mapping Agency, now another acronym. They weren't too keen on digital when it first came out and say it still has a long way to go. But then they're the spy plane (now satellite) in the sky folks. :-)
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It makes me think of that old Simon and Garfunkel song "Kodachrome" with a smile.
Digital photography is convenient, but I've dealt with the real pros at what used to be called Defense Mapping Agency, then named National Image Mapping Agency, now another acronym. They weren't too keen on digital when it first came out and say it still has a long way to go. But then they're the spy plane (now satellite) in the sky folks. :-)
Isn't that what used to be called ACIC (Aeronautical Chart and Information Center)? It is/was located in St. Louis.....my uncle worked for them for over 30 years......
doc
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Those are some very cool photos.
Thanks for sharing the link BEG. :)
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Now that I looked at the link, it is quite fascinating.
Not in the magnificent breadth, but rather in the intimate touch of Americans in times we understand yet can not fathom.
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cool photos from a bygone era....
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For anyone interested in these type of pics, the Smithsonian has added a ton of their pics to Flicker (http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/) .
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Awesome! I got chills looking at those. So vibrant and so real. If I had my druthers, I would have been a photographer traveling the world taking these kinds of photos.
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A book publisher (and his estate) published a book of Ansel Adams' color prints some time ago. They were amazing. Another good medium/large format color photographer I like is Galen Rowell.