Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland | 10:29 am Thursday, January 20th, 2011.
As it Happened | The Rheinfalls
The Making of the Leica M9
There are things in this world that one needs and there are things that one wants. The Lecia M9 is most decidedly living in the want category. The below videos show the assembly process of these beautiful German made cameras, showing you exactly what goes into making such a fine machine. Because what could be better than seeing something amazing being made, even if that thing is far too expensive for you to own.
Ice Harvest
Back in the days before the modern convenience of refrigeration, this is how people keep their food (read: their beer) ice cold. Men would harvest blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds with a horse & plow and giant saw. Workers would then load the slabs of ice into a spring house or an icehouse to sell to people for use in their ice boxes at home.
Kodachrome Snow Day in Xenia, Ohio c.1950
Canoe Club | Kennebunkport, Maine c.1906
Old Fish House, Kennebunkport, Maine
Club House, Kennebunk River, Kennebunkport, Maine
Canoe, Kennebunk River, Kennebunkport, Maine
Photos from the Detroit Publishing Company archive.
Archival Calendars
During the 1930s the U.S. Government commissioned a huge photography project to document the Great Depression and in doing so created some of the most iconic and enduring images of American life. I really fell in love with a set of photos of the White Motor Company from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and I thought it would be cool to make my own personalized calendar from the images. Lucky for me the files are available in high enough resolution to print a normal size calendar through the Apple printing service. I selected about 14 of my favorite pictures (which seem to be copyright free, at least for this clearly non-commercial use) laid everything out in iPhoto and submitted the job straight through to Apple. About two weeks and $28 later I was in business.
More information about the photographs from the Library of Congress:
The black-and-white photographs of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection are a landmark in the history of documentary photography. The images show Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life and the adverse effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization. Some of the most famous images portray people who were displaced from farms and migrated West or to industrial cities in search of work. In its latter years, the project documented America’s mobilization for World War II. The collection includes about 164,000 black-and-white negatives; this release provides access to over 160,000 of these images. The FSA-OWI photographers also produced about 1600 color photographs.
The White Motor Company calendar was a nice way to celebrate some of these amazing and iconic images, not to mention my own hometown’s wartime industrial strength. I’m already thinking of a railroad worker themed 2011. [Additionally, do like me and be sure to thank the LOC for the personal pleasure (and totally non-commercial use) of their photos. Donate online here.]
Here’s a better look at the gent in the above image.
Pure Americana from the Rural South
Athens, Georgia based photographer Evan Leavitt has become a bit of a Flickr superstar through his documentation of the rural South. Leavitt’s photos incorporate a post production texturing effect to make them appear somewhere in-between a photo and a painting. In some instances it gets slightly too HDRish for me, an effect I’m not particularly fond of, but more often than not the photos turn out to be wonderful moments in a weathered and seemingly forgotten land. Somebody get Jen Bekman on the phone and get this guy on 20×200. I’d buy about 100 of these as photos if I could. The good news is, Evan is prolific with his art and continues to share through his photostream. Which means I continue to enjoy my daily trips to the rural South.
Friendship Baptist Church Estab. 1831 Wilkes County, GA
Barrow County, GA
THE 1940′s TVA IN COLOR
At some point during my adventure to The Shoals with Mr. Billy Reid someone mentioned that the Tennessee Valley Authority was based in the area, which made sense considering the Wilson dam and its lake that we relaxed on.
I remember the TVA from high school history class, though I have to admit I never thought much about it. When I got back to NYC after my trip to Alabama I started to read-up on the subject and I learned a lot. And it wasn’t until recently that I became aware of the role of the TVA during WWII.
