Things never seen

On Wednesday I went to my Aunt Sheila's house in Dadeville. Since retiring, she has built a metalworking shop where she makes furniture and ornamental pieces to sell at local stores. She also gave me a tour of her greenhouse, where she's growing succulents in odd, small containers she finds at thrift stores. It was quite a sight. She's going to be selling them at the Pepper Place market in Birmingham this spring.

The reason for my visit was that I knew she had some old family photo albums that I had never seen. I asked her if I could look at them. Instead, she told me to take them all and keep them as long as I wanted. I loved seeing photos I had never seen of people I love. I have about 8 full albums, and there are more at my aunt's house I'll have to look at another time. Here are some of the photos I scanned:

My beautiful grandmother Marjorie and my Uncle Roger

My grandmother and one of my uncles and his cousins

Uncle Roger playing in a cotton field in his diaper (there were a lot of cotton field baby photos)

Uncle Roger (left) and my dad (right)
I love the cow and chickens

Aunt Susie and Uncle Pat
These Auburn sweatshirts are back in style

My dad and a date at a high school dance. You should have seen the love note he (or an impostor) wrote on the back. It was an outrageous confession of his deepest undying love for this girl (whom I've never even heard of). It seemed so over the top that I couldn't tell if it was a joke...but then again, it was high school.

The most tantalizing part about my aunt's photos is that she says she has a box full of uncategorized photos, mostly from England. She tried to find a photo of an English cousin named Patrick who she said looks just like me, but she couldn't find it. Next time, I hope!

Close in space, far in time

I was scanning more of my dad's slides today. It seemed so strange that I am literally about 300 feet from where many of these photos were taken, and yet they were before my time and totally remote to me.

These are my dad's parents, my English grandmother. This was near the end of her life I think, when she had cancer. She died before I was born. This house is across the way from my office. No one has lived there since my grandfather died in 2007 though.

Christmas, in the same house, early 80s. My dad is wearing the Nike shirt. My mom is in front of the TV. The rest are my aunts, uncles, older cousins, and grandfather.

Aunt Susie. She used to watch me on Saturdays while my dad worked. She died when I was 8. I have no memory of her being this skinny or deformed. She had polio. In all photos of her, she looks sad and never makes eye contact with the camera, yet I remember her as one of the most warm, gentle, and loving people in my childhood. I never cried as much as I did when she died.

My mom shelling peas at my Granny's house near Birmingham. My cousin and my mom's dog Nicholas are with her.

One of my school pictures. Look at that hair. And that Bugle Boy.

Ektachrome

For Christmas, my dad gave me a photo scanner. I asked if I could scan some of his old slides to test it out. He gave me a tray and I got scanning. They were pictures from 1981, when my dad was about the same age I am now. Strange to think about.

I love the look of color positive film. It's almost like stained glass. My dad used Kodak Ektachrome, which, if you're interested in trying, is going to be rereleased by Kodak this coming year. I think I'm going to try it.

Well, it's out of focus, but there aren't many photos of my dad smiling so I like it.

My dad working. He designed and built this huge gazebo in our back yard, which can still be seen behind our old house in Opelika.

First medium format photos

I got my first rolls of film back yesterday. First are ones I took on my grandfather's Brownie Hawkeye camera with Kodak Portra 400 film.

Double exposure, woods along my uncle's pasture.

I took this scene with my digital camera a few weeks ago, trying to imitate medium format. Here is real medium format for comparison (though this one is at f/16).

Afternoon hike in Chewacla

Some rocks in Chewacla

My niece and her cat Bailey

Some photos from my pinhole camera. This was before I knew about reciprocity failure so they turned out really dark. Shot with Kodak T-Max 400.

My dad's bulldozer

The big creek (Same creek as Chewacla Creek, only 20-40 miles downstream)

Nunn-Winston House at Kiesel Park 

Nunn-Winston House

Finally, some of the photos from old film found inside the Brownie camera, from the mid-60s. These were the most shocking of all. I never thought they would have turned out. Shot on Kodak Kodacolor.

My great grandmother at her house. She loved to garden. I like her daylilies.

My grandfather with my mom (left) and aunt. He died one or two years after this.

Granny with Aunt Dot, my grandmother's sister. She was always a lot of fun to be around. I like Granny's lilies. This must have been early summer.