Vintage Photo Friday

Since I have been featuring photos from my side of the family the past few weeks -- today I dip into the smaller stash of photos from my husband's family. This is one of my favorite photos. This is my mother in law's army nursing unit.  My mother in law was a nurse during World War II on board the ocean liner the Queen Mary (it was converted into a hospital during the war).   In this photo she is in the third row from the front and is the fourth person in from the left.  

One day when we were visiting her, she got out her photo album.  This is a photo from the photo; it is not a scan. The original photo was not true black and white, it had yellowed a little with age.  I used Silver Efex to convert the photo to true black and white and to slightly adjust the contrast.  We have another photo very similar to this -- but the nurses are in their fatigues.  

 

Planting Photos

By now many of you have been busy planting in your yards for the spring and summer. Spending time at the local nursery or home/hardware store you can find many beautiful additions to your landscape.  As you are planning, keep in mind plants that attract birds, butterflies, insects, and such to your yard.  Many places that sell plants will have information about the best to choose to attract wildlife to your yard.  Also think about the plants themselves.  All of these things -- plants, birds, insects, etc. can be your subject matter for the next 5 months or so.  

I still have a little taming of my outdoor area to do -- but I am busy thinking of where I need to add a little color.  Also, I need to toss out some parsley seed. Parsley plants are the food for the black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. Parsley is also a biennial -- blooming and going to seed in its second year.  I think the is the first year in quite a while that I do not have any parsley coming up in any of the beds in the backyard.  

Along the back of the house, inside the courtyard area, I have three old iron urns that I like to put coleus plants in for good color against the house.  The urns are old, black, and rusty.  The bright colors of the coleus are a nice contrast to the container.  I bought some red coleus and the pink and green variety to mix in the pots.  The coleus colors I bought were the Rustic Red and Watermelon.  Coleus plants grow fast.  Pinch the buds or tops of a tall, leggy plants and they will become fuller.

For the front porch I chose deep, dark, scarlet geraniums.  In the pot with the geraniums I added a white verbena plant and a couple of the Rustic Red coleus plants.  The leaves of the geranium plants are just as interesting to photograph as the blooms are.  Also for the front porch I bought some portulaca plants for hanging pots.  These are excellent in a spot with hot summer sun -- not like we have seen much sun lately!  

For the deck I bought yellow grape and Mr. Stripey tomato plants.  These sounded good to eat in salads this summer and good to take photos of as well.  I like to take photos of the tomato plants as they bloom and as the tomatoes grow and ripen.  I hope the tomato worms don't find them -- I hate the tomato worms -- they are very creepy and gross.  (But if they show up I will take photos before I "remove" them -- once I removed them into a plastic zip bag, forgot the bag on the porch until the next day -- went to get the bag and found a big hole and no worms!)

The backyard is already filled with butterfly bushes and many types of daylilies getting ready to bloom.  I like daylilies -- they are easy to care for and come back year after year.  Last year I also added some canna lilies, lizard's tail, and other plants around the pond.  Already this year I have seen two white water lilies and one pink bloom.  The white ones usually bloom a lot -- but the pink one is not as prolific.  The lamb's ear is almost ready to bloom too -- that means bumble bees are coming soon.  There are a few cosmos and zinnia plants that continue to return thanks the the previous year's seed.  Or should I say -- the seed that the goldfinches missed!  Those little yellow birds love to hang on the old stems to get seeds, and drop a few.  Look closely at the plants to spot the crab spiders whose color will match the plant so they are not easily seen.  Toads, tadpoles, skinks, dragonflies and more will be all around the pond.  

Plant!  Then charge up your batteries and get outside with your camera.

Vintage Photo Friday

This is the photo that started my interest in restoration. About 10 years ago I was in my grandmother's basement looking at things and thinking what is there that I would like to have at my house.  I opened an old trunk and found it basically empty except for a couple small shells, buttons and a tiny photo about the size of a postage stamp.

The little photo was of my grandmother, her older brother, mother and father.  Her younger brother had not been born yet.  The tiny photo was not in good condition.  There was a crack going from top to bottom and through my grandmother's face.  The corners were also cracked and damaged.

No one in the family had ever seen this photo before.  I took the trunk home with me, and the photo.  As soon as I got home, I took the photo to a local camera/print shop.  They told me that they could repair the photo for me (actually they had to send it to the lab in Atlanta).  The charge was $45 for the repair, the photo on a disk, and a couple 5x7 prints.  A very reasonable price for what needed to be done.  But I started thinking.  I had a digital camera and did very limited editing on the computer --I could purchase a program that did more for less than the price of having two photos repaired and I could do it myself.  So from that point on -- I did it myself.

This photo shows my grandmother's mother and father.  Aunt Anna (last week's VPF) was her sister -- remember sisters married to brothers.  Trying to date this photo -- I am looking at my grandmother for help.  She was born in 1916.  In this photo she appears 2 or maybe a little younger -- so the photo is from 1917 or 1918.  I wish it was clearer so you could see the clothing better.  I have other photos of these great grandparents wearing very fancy clothing.  The photos were most likely taken at a studio on Washington, D.C. around the turn of the century.  I do have a little dress that was my grandmother's that I believe is the same dress she is wearing in this photo.

Protecting Your Camera at the Beach

Again -- I am looking at the blog posts that get the most hits from Googling.  One that is getting a lot of action these days is the post about protecting your camera.  Here is the link to that post.  This post was mainly about colder weather and wet weather.  This time of year many people are heading to the beaches and really need to worry about heat, water, and the real problem; sand.

So what about the Hurricane Hood that I bought for the camera?  It is OK.  I used it once.  I find it clumsy and hard to deal with -- but it does protect your camera.  I suppose if you had to be out in the rain or other bad weather situation -- it would be worth dealing with the hassle of it.   What if you don't want to hassle with this but you do want to have your camera at the beach?  Here are some things to think about to keep your camera safe.

1. Never expose the interior of the camera while on the beach.  Don't change lenses on the beach.  Choose the lens you wish to use for the time you will be there and keep that lens on while you are anywhere near the sand, wind, sea spray, etc. Don't change memory cards while at the beach.  I don't care what anyone says -- a breezy day at the beach -- your camera does not need to be opened for anything.  If you need to do something like this -- head to your hotel room, inside a restaurant, or car.
2. Keep your camera safe from the heat and direct sun for prolonged periods of time.  Use a small personal sized cooler to help with this.  Keep the camera and anything the camera is in shaded as much as possible.
3. Keep a filter on your lens.  I will let you know that I have one circular polarizer that went to the beach with me on a windy day -- it still makes a nice grinding sound when I turn it from small grains of sand that got into it.  
4. Be careful of sand sticking to the camera body.  This may happen if you have sunscreen on your hands, if the sand is damp, or just from your body oil.  
5. When you return to an indoor location, brush the outside of the camera thoroughly with a small brush and use a bulb blower before you open the camera or take off the lens.  If you have a zoom lens, be sure you have cleaned it completely -- especially if you had been zooming with it.
6. Keep micro fiber cloths on hand to help clean the outside of the camera and lens.  These are excellent since they are so good for cleaning things without any cleaning liquid.  When you wash them remember to leave out the fabric softener.
7. Never throw away the silca gel packs that come in products you buy.  I got a new camera bag the other day and one was already in it!  I put these into my camera bag and would also put one in a ziploc bag with my camera.
8. Speaking of ziploc bags -- keep them handy.  When we go to amusement parks and have to ride the water rides -- I pop my camera into the bag and put it in my tote to keep it safe while getting soaked on the ride. When you step outside into the heat and humidity from an airconditioned hotel, home, or car -- your camera will collect condensation.  To combat this, wrap the camera tightly in a ziploc bag.  Squeeze out as much of the air as possible. When you go out of the a/c, keep the camera in the bag until it comes up to the temperature outside.
9. If you live near the water or spend a lot of time near it -- you should consider purchasing a plastic housing for your camera that is watertight.  Maybe you still would not want this for your big DSLR -- how about a smaller digital and the housing for it for those times when your are at, near, or on the water?

Be aware that many of those camera warranties can be voided if the repair service finds any evidence of sand in the camera.

Don't be afraid to get the camera a little dirty -- use it and enjoy it -- but also take care of it.  I brush and wipe down my camera on a regular basis.  I use an artist's brush to get into the tight spots all over the camera.  A lot of the above advice is also appropriate when you are dealing with those days when the pollen count is high.  Pollen can be worse than dust since it is sticky and will adhere to the camera (and your sensor).