KARNAK the Magnificent

This photo, and indeed it is a photo, not a real photo post card, was purchased last Friday at an estate sale for 50 cents. I think it's stunning and I wish I knew the history of it. I know it was taken at the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt. Other than that, I know nothing. I'm imagining it is a tourist souvenir, but I can't be sure because nothing is written on the back to indicate its origins. So I'm hoping by posting it on the net someone someday will step forward and say they have one. Perhaps it was part of a series sold to tourists of various images at the temple.

I find it very romantic and mysterious. Has a nice Indiana Jones quality to it. There's an interesting story here if we could find out its history.

This is my submission for this weeks Sepia Saturday. For a change I actually have something sepia. Keep me posted if you ever see another one just like it.

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Here is a photo, taken by Steven Beikirch in 1992, of the same basic image, for a book called Ancient Egypt. You can see the photo in context on the web here.

Photo: © 1992 Steven Belkirch, Ancient Egypt

Look Ma, NO HANDS! And VOTE FOR JIM

This shot is from a box of photos bought at the flea market on Sunday. The guy said, "25 cents a photo or the entire box for 3." I'm not stupid. Well, maybe I am, because there was nothing really great in the box. And he made me take the box too. Faux leather, brown, something sold by Penny's a long time ago for storing photos. They said it was suitable for any decor. Okay, not mine. Basically a piece of junk. It will get tossed. That said, there were some shots of people cutting cakes in the box. A category I do collect. A few other interesting things.

Below is one innocuous shot until you think, "Why do all of them have their hands behind their backs? What's going on?" I think the red dot has something to do with it. You know those red dots that show up on people's foreheads in spy shows when there's a gun targeting them? This is a really big red dot with a really bad shooter with bad aim.

Click on image to see it larger, though heaven knows why.

And is it just me, but when you look at it quickly does the guy with the glasses not remind you of Mel Cooley from the Dick Van Dyke show? I'm figuring the two to his right are Sally and Buddy.

The reality is that these people are "Jake, Lareen Moody Jarrel, Robert Jarrel, and Clara Moody on Claras poarch in Pauls Valley OKLa. Oct 14. 64." That's what it says on the back, or at least what I think it says. I don't think they actually wrote the names in the order of how they're standing. The person who wrote this had the odd habit of writing the dates twice on the back of photos. Several different shots have the date at the top and then following all other copy. They just wanted to make sure people knew the date. The names, not so much.

By the way, I do not believe the one on the left is Laura Petrie/Mary Tyler Moore. Perhaps Mel Cooley's wife.

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Jim Linderman of Dull Tool Dim Bulb has a couple of photography books vying for awards at Blurb. If you get the chance check out Jim's books and think of voting for one of them. You can see The Painted Backdrop and Camera Club Girls, both very interesting books.

The Day the TALL LADY CAME TO VISIT

As I reach deeper into the Big Bag of Negs I find this, two short people with a tall woman. Who actually came to visit that day? I'm guessing the tall woman. I love the perfect model pose in the second one. Girls were taught to stand like this. It wasn't a natural pose. I bet boys didn't know that. I have no idea who these people were. The man actually reminds me of actor Robert Clary who played Corporal Louis LeBeau on Hogan's Heros. If you never knew the history of Clary I recommend you read the following Wikipedia post. He is a survivor of Buchenwald. He apparently has his own site here. And here you can see part one of a documentary he made about his experiences in the prison camp. All seven parts are available on YouTube. Of course, the man in this photo is not Robert Clary, but seeing this man reminded me of him. He, like millions of others, should not be forgotten. On a much lighter note, this weekend was fun with a visit to an estate sale on Friday and the flea market on Sunday. Purchased over 200 photos. Oh sure, some of them are pointless, others are pure heaven. You will see some of them here in the future.

WAIKIKI in 1954

Christine, of the Daily Postcard, inspired me to post these two old slides from 1954. I believe the one of the Royal Hawaiian was one my dad purchased, but I can't be sure. I know he took the one of Diamond Head.

This is the Hawaii I remember. Few crowds, few hotels, and incredibly beautiful skies not blocked out by egotistical monster hotels. And one thing many of you might not be aware of is that down below Diamond Head, at the point, was the Henry J. Kaiser estate. They were very very fond of pink. The house was pink. She dyed her poodles pink. And the fleet of Willy jeeps that roamed the island with their pink and white striped roofs were pink. Pink was very big in Hawaii.

In 1954 my family was passing back through Hawaii from our year long stay on Midway Island. We would return to Hawaii in 1959. Still the most magical time of my life. I can close my eyes and be back there in an instant.

Watermelon eating BEACH GALS

Okay, there's no evidence here of eating watermelon, but I have proof these woman did indeed eat watermelon on this beach. In this earlier post, BEACH PARTY with watermelon, we see them all chomping away on the juicy red fruit.

Click on image to see it larger.

This is from the infamous, in my mind, Big Bag of Negs. And dare I say that I found more photos of them eating watermelon. I've told you, it's a category. I must collect. Perhaps I will eventually corner the market. They'll all be mine. MINE I TELL YOU! ALL MINE!

Let's see, that's people eating watermelon, pigs eating watermelon, people on horses not real, looming shadows (far too commonly collected), did I mention watermelon? I say find a category and specialize. Specialization is where the money is.

Don't believe a word of what I'm saying. For cryin' out loud I know nothing! I mean, I have one photo of a pig eating watermelon and have decided to make it a category!

MOTHER AND SON

A few weeks ago I posted a photo from the Big Bag of Negs that I called Brothers in Arms. Well, from the same bag of negs I have now found this, Son and Mother. The same young man with his mother.

Click on image to see it larger.

These photos were bought at an estate sale. While others were busily scurrying around buying the acquired stuff of the deceased's life, I was buying the precious moments of their life. An old photo album, falling apart full of hundreds of photos and the Big Bag of Negs.

I have photos of this woman when she was very young with her sisters in Canada. Then photos of her living near Ukiah, California during the Depression. I have no idea whose home I was in at the sale. I stupidly never asked. That's always one of the dumbest things I do. I don't ask for names. It's always a mad dash to find the photos before someone else does. And I have to admit, I'm not comfortable asking personal questions about the deceased while I paw through their belongings. I just hope to give their memories a caring home.

This is my addition to today's Sepia Saturday.

P5M offshore at IWOKUNI, JAPAN

Here's a slide from one of my father's many boxes of slides he took during the 1950s through '70s. I've said before that he was a Naval aviator. He flew off carriers and flew seaplanes like the one shown below. The call sign for this plane would have been Sugar Fox 3, and it was in squadron VP-48.

This shot is of a P5M and was most likely taken off the coast of Japan at Iwokuni around 1954. It's believed that only one of these planes still exists. It resides at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.

The Martin P5M Marlin (P-5 Marlin after 1962), built by the Glenn L. Martin Company of Middle River, Maryland, was a twin engined piston powered flying boat entering service in 1951 and serving into late 1960s in service with the United States Navy for naval patrol. It also served in the U.S. Coast Guard and with the French Navy. 285 were produced overall.

Built as evolutionary successor to the PBM Mariner, it had better engines, improved hull form, and more conventional tail. The XP5M Marlin prototypes were based on the last PBM-5 Mariners, the company designation being Model 237. It would be heavily improved again leading to the P5M-2 (Model 237B), which was redesignated SP-5B. A number of P5M-1 models were also used for training, designated TP-5A (after 1962).

The Marlin was designed as a gull-winged aircraft to place the engines and propellers high above the spray. Power was by two Wright R-3350 radial engines. The rear hull did not lift sharply from the water at the tail, instead rising up steadily, a Martin innovation; this gave the aircraft a longer base of flotation and reduced "porpoising" over waves.

The prototype had nose and tail turrets with twin 20 millimetres (0.79 in) cannon in each, as well as a dorsal turret with two 0.5 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns. The cockpit area was the same as the Mariner's. It first flew in 30 May 1948.

The first of 167 production P5M-1 aircraft was produced in 1951, flying on 22 June 1951. Changes from the prototype included a raised flight deck for improved visibility, the replacement of the nose turret with a large radome for the AN/APS-44 search radar, the deletion of the dorsal turret, and new, streamlined wing floats. The engine nacelles were lengthened to provide room for weapons bays in the rear.

The P5M-1 was followed by 116 P5M-2 planes. These had a T-tail to put the tail surfaces out of the spray, a AN/ASQ-8 MAD boom at the rear of the tail-tip, no tail guns, better crew accommodation and an improved bow to reduce spray during takeoff and landing. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

My father gets a big smile when he sees this plane. And he still has a model of the one he flew, the only one of his planes I ever was able to see in person. I got to stand on some stairs and look in a door. That was it. I wasn't allowed inside. Let's just say, it was BIG and created an indelible memory.

SCANNING SLIDES is different than negatives

I've been working on deadlines this week so have not been able to respond to an email from a reader, Mary, about scanning slides.

I have been using my scanner for about a week. Great results on negatives and photos but not so much on the slides.

I get the four that I placed in the guide but not able to enlarge them or view them individually.

I have read the help and instructions online. What am I missing on the slide instructions?

I tried to email my response to Mary, but I get a message indicating that the email account will not accept messages. So Mary, if you're out there here's what I wrote you:

• I believe what might be your problem is one of the choices you make before scanning. Look under the various settings before you scan. Look for the information about what sort of film you're scanning. For slides you want to choose "positive film", NOT color or b/w negative. Slides are not negatives.

• Next you need to scan a preview before doing your final scan. You should find a tool on the left of the "Preview" window that says "Marquee" which allows you draw a dotted marquee line around the specific images you've preview scanned. You then need to go back to the settings panel and set your scale under "Target Size" to around 1200% which will give you a nice large image. Then hit the scan button.

• You should then have a grouping of your slides show up on your screen. You will need to save the image, then take it into an image editing program to split the images apart.

Mary, let me know if this helps. And check your email preferences to allow responses, otherwise I cannot respond to your questions.

To read a bit more about scanning slides and negatives see my previous post entitled...wait for it...How to SCAN SLIDES AND NEGATIVES.