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| Lunch in Paradise Valley, Montana |
I come from a long line of picnic eaters while on vacation. I know my grandparents did so quite often whenever my brother and I were with them on a vacation. In fact, I have no memories of ever eating in a restaurant with my grandparents while on a vacation with them. Evidently, that trait came from my grandfather's parents, my great grandparents, as I have found numerous pictures of their picnic spots in my great uncle's slide collection.
Below is a picture of the Hungry Horse Dam which according to the writing on the slide, may have been the fourth tallest in the U.S. back in 1966. According to Wikipedia, it was at the time it was completed, the 2nd tallest in the world and now only ranks at #10 for the tallest in the U.S.
This box, #5 according to the penned label, was pretty light on interesting pictures. All but these two were mostly scenery pictures spanning from Yellowstone to Glacier National Parks. I didn't save any of the scenery pictures as they mean very little to me. I find the pictures that draw my interest are the ones with people in them (or bears from the prior post) and recognizable historic structures/places. I'm not sure yet what I'll do when I scan all the desired pictures out of this box. I really don't want to store all these boxes of slides that I'll probably never look at again. I may toss them out or freight them to
Steve over in England. I haven't decided yet but at the rate I've been scanning them, I don't have to make a decision anytime soon!
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| Hungry Horse Dam, 4th Tallest in U.S. (on Columbia River) |
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Ha! I would certainly take a look at them, but I know what you mean about scenery photos. They're not very meaningful from a cultural or historical standpoint, since a lot of the scenery is probably still more or less the same now. (At least in national parks!) Cityscapes and buildings are interesting, though, and I agree -- people photos are the best.
ReplyDeleteA lot of them would be hard to identify as there is just a waterfall, a road winding through a valley or not much at all that could be used in identification. Many do have writing though so I can guess by surrounding content or decipher the words enough to get a reasonably close estimate of where it was taken but because there are no people or man made objects in it, and I have no memories there, it is hard to be sentimental about them.
DeleteThe scenery photos are generally of such poor quality from those days that they're not worth keeping. I too prefer the pictures with people or animals in them.
ReplyDeleteThere is that too. Although the slides themselves are well preserved, the focus technology back then had a lot to be desired. So many would have been great shots had they been properly focused.
DeleteI love scenery photos for me personally, but it's the people ones that are more interesting in the long run, or even in the short run, I guess.
ReplyDeleteFor most of my life, I took scenery photos almost exclusively and went to great lengths to avoid people or man made objects. But having sorted through a half dozen inherited collections, I have now seen that the ones that will outlast me are the ones with people in them. I am thus trying to change and take more pictures with people.
DeletePicnicking has never been high on my list. Maybe it's due to the heat/humidity/insect situation where I live.
ReplyDeleteI remember plenty of times sweating and swatting mosquitoes while eating a sandwich with one hand and waving the other to keep flies off the condiment bottles.
DeleteHere's a dumb question for you but I need to ask because I have a few slides to deal with. How are you getting these pictures up and stored on your computer? Do you have a special attachment or gizmo?
ReplyDeleteMahalo in advance!
I have an old flatbed Canon 8800F scanner. It comes with an attachment and software so that you can scan four slides at a time. The software that came with the scanner also allows basic editing, both during and after scanning of the slides though I typically don't do any. It is faster and most won't see the light of day. If I have a particular slide that resonates, I will run it through my more powerful photo editing software to remove more of the dust and scratches and touch up any fading that has occurred over the years.
DeleteFour slides at a time is very slow, especially when I am currently sitting on maybe four dozen boxes of slides with 24 slides each. I have been doing a presort by holding them up to a light and seeing if it is an image that interests me. If not, it goes back in the box. If so, I scan it. I usually scan a box while reading blogs or other internet surfing and then do something else the rest of the day. I fully expect not to be done with this batch until close to spring.
Ed, I do love the colors on these older slides (and photographs). There is a certain nostalgia about them that modern "picture perfect" technology lacks.
ReplyDeleteI think part of that is the always out of perfect focus too.
DeleteIt is a job scanning....have fun!
ReplyDeleteIt is a labor of love.
DeleteMy parents were also big on vacation picnics for economic reasons. We got to know roadside parks very well.
ReplyDeleteWe did a lot of rest area picnic tables with my grandparents. The site above looks fabulous!
DeleteI started scanning some of Art's college photos... but gave up. I told him if they are truly what he wants to save, go at it. If he does, I told him he's got to put information in the properties and that's something I can't do for him. Scenery photos are also not very interesting unless there's a story behind it.
ReplyDeleteI've got two large rubber maid totes in my attic full of unlabeled scenery pictures. No idea where they were taken. I can't quite get myself to throw them away yet. The idea that my parents were happy exploring there is enough to hang on to them for a while longer.
ReplyDelete