Comments on: new life for old photos http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/ a place where nature, photography and writing meet Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:33:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: burning silo http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33268 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:46:04 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33268 <i>and neither of us is very respectful of authority. </i> Ha! Are you my long lost brother?? (-: I don't know about the wild environment vs. urban environment. I've considered that as well. I know that some birds can become very accustomed to human activity and ignore it after awhile. Also, many birds can be approached in a vehicle, but if you're on foot... poof...they are gone. Same goes for mammals. We find snakes in very wild places, but we find them as much by sound as by sight. People laugh when I tell them that, but both of us usually notice the sound of a snake moving through leaf mulch before we see it. If we hear the sound, we freeze and look around and often find the source -- very often a snake. They're very sensitive to sound and vibration too, so it's really a case of noticing them before they notice you. One "aid" to snake-hunting is that Sabrina finds snakes for us sometimes - no doubt by picking up their scent as we're walking along. She finds frogs in the grass for me too. and neither of us is very respectful of authority.

Ha! Are you my long lost brother?? (-:

I don’t know about the wild environment vs. urban environment. I’ve considered that as well. I know that some birds can become very accustomed to human activity and ignore it after awhile. Also, many birds can be approached in a vehicle, but if you’re on foot… poof…they are gone. Same goes for mammals. We find snakes in very wild places, but we find them as much by sound as by sight. People laugh when I tell them that, but both of us usually notice the sound of a snake moving through leaf mulch before we see it. If we hear the sound, we freeze and look around and often find the source — very often a snake. They’re very sensitive to sound and vibration too, so it’s really a case of noticing them before they notice you. One “aid” to snake-hunting is that Sabrina finds snakes for us sometimes - no doubt by picking up their scent as we’re walking along. She finds frogs in the grass for me too.

]]> by: Wayne http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33253 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:25:03 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33253 Bev - my nephew and I have actually talked a bit about sharing a quarter of our genome. But he's right-brained, and I'm left-brained, or so we're told, just to make what amounts to a pop-psy observation. As you might suspect, we both go beyond that and neither of us is very respectful of authority. Chromosome 15? Chromosome 7? We do have garter snakes around here, and for whatever reason I just don't see them. And yes, they are beautifully stiped, and to think that their gentle personalities match their beauty! I sometimes wonder if the reason I don't see the riot of birds that others see, and snakes too, in particualr, is because I live in a relatively wild environment, where larger vertebrate animals are free to do what they normally do when they hear me coming - hide. That's in contrast to an urban environment where they might like to hide, but cannot, and so they are seen. Bev - my nephew and I have actually talked a bit about sharing a quarter of our genome. But he’s right-brained, and I’m left-brained, or so we’re told, just to make what amounts to a pop-psy observation. As you might suspect, we both go beyond that and neither of us is very respectful of authority. Chromosome 15? Chromosome 7?

We do have garter snakes around here, and for whatever reason I just don’t see them. And yes, they are beautifully stiped, and to think that their gentle personalities match their beauty!

I sometimes wonder if the reason I don’t see the riot of birds that others see, and snakes too, in particualr, is because I live in a relatively wild environment, where larger vertebrate animals are free to do what they normally do when they hear me coming - hide. That’s in contrast to an urban environment where they might like to hide, but cannot, and so they are seen.

]]> by: burning silo http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33240 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:44:49 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33240 Wayne - Family resemblances are an odd thing in any case. Some large families exhibit such a diversity in appearances between members, that you have to wonder just how much such things as facial features pass between generations. I'm more inclined to think that interests are almost a better indicator, although not always in that case either. In my own case, both sides of my family were very attracted to spending time on or around the water. As a teenager, my dad's father took off with a friend in small sailing skiff and got in big trouble for spending a whole day sailing somewher off the shores of the Isle of Man where he grew up. His family were all active in the herring fishery there. My dad had a sailboat for many years too and loved to spend summers on the Ottawa River. Meanwhile, my dad's mother's family sailed to all parts of the world out of Liverpool. On my mom's side of the family, several of her brothers were in the merchant marine or served in the navy during WWII. Her family grew up on the edge of the St. Lawrence River and boats and fishing were part of their way of life. Many of the cousins on my mom's side of the family spend their time off in boats and/or fishing. I'm very at home in a canoe, or swimming around in a river like an otter, so I probably inherited that same love for water. I think most people can learn to like the water, but I think there's a whole other level of feeling "at home" in the water and that seems to be present in both sides of my family. It's all interesting stuff to contemplate. I'm sorry to hear that you don't see Garter Snakes around there. Are they present in your range and you're just not seeing them? I must check into that. They really are quite lovely snakes. Don didn't think so when we first moved here as he (possibly inherited!) a dislike for snakes from his dad, but he has since converted to being a snake fan. Wayne - Family resemblances are an odd thing in any case. Some large families exhibit such a diversity in appearances between members, that you have to wonder just how much such things as facial features pass between generations. I’m more inclined to think that interests are almost a better indicator, although not always in that case either. In my own case, both sides of my family were very attracted to spending time on or around the water. As a teenager, my dad’s father took off with a friend in small sailing skiff and got in big trouble for spending a whole day sailing somewher off the shores of the Isle of Man where he grew up. His family were all active in the herring fishery there. My dad had a sailboat for many years too and loved to spend summers on the Ottawa River. Meanwhile, my dad’s mother’s family sailed to all parts of the world out of Liverpool. On my mom’s side of the family, several of her brothers were in the merchant marine or served in the navy during WWII. Her family grew up on the edge of the St. Lawrence River and boats and fishing were part of their way of life. Many of the cousins on my mom’s side of the family spend their time off in boats and/or fishing. I’m very at home in a canoe, or swimming around in a river like an otter, so I probably inherited that same love for water. I think most people can learn to like the water, but I think there’s a whole other level of feeling “at home” in the water and that seems to be present in both sides of my family. It’s all interesting stuff to contemplate.
I’m sorry to hear that you don’t see Garter Snakes around there. Are they present in your range and you’re just not seeing them? I must check into that. They really are quite lovely snakes. Don didn’t think so when we first moved here as he (possibly inherited!) a dislike for snakes from his dad, but he has since converted to being a snake fan.

]]> by: Wayne http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33236 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:21:50 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33236 Bev - I hunt for resemblances in the photos I have of my great grandparents and grandaunts and uncles, but don't particularly see them. Looking into the next generation, particularly one of my nephews, I don't see the resemblances there either. Leaving aside the scurrilous speculations, I think I just don't have a very good eye for human resemblance. Yes, the good thing is that the original photo is left untouched and so that points to my reluctance to photoshop photos as largely irrational. I must put that on the agenda, as I have a feeling that it won't get done otherwise. I'm viewing those garter snakes in the next post with great envy. My childhood was filled with the desire to have garter snakes, and even now I don't see them. What we got were DeKay's snakes. They were marvelous little fellers, and utterly entertaining, but a quantum drop below my expectations as a kid. Still, my little captives did thrive on snails, earthworms, and slugs. Oddly, they're still the number one snake that I find these days. It appears that little brown snakes will preempt garter snakes for the rest of my life. Bev - I hunt for resemblances in the photos I have of my great grandparents and grandaunts and uncles, but don’t particularly see them. Looking into the next generation, particularly one of my nephews, I don’t see the resemblances there either. Leaving aside the scurrilous speculations, I think I just don’t have a very good eye for human resemblance.

Yes, the good thing is that the original photo is left untouched and so that points to my reluctance to photoshop photos as largely irrational. I must put that on the agenda, as I have a feeling that it won’t get done otherwise.

I’m viewing those garter snakes in the next post with great envy. My childhood was filled with the desire to have garter snakes, and even now I don’t see them. What we got were DeKay’s snakes. They were marvelous little fellers, and utterly entertaining, but a quantum drop below my expectations as a kid. Still, my little captives did thrive on snails, earthworms, and slugs. Oddly, they’re still the number one snake that I find these days. It appears that little brown snakes will preempt garter snakes for the rest of my life.

]]> by: burning silo http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33221 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:10:20 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/02/27/new-life-for-old-photos/#comment-33221 Wayne - Thanks! I was wondering when the first person would say, "Hey, those look good, can I send you some of mine?!" (-: Regarding restoration, I shared some of that feeling about "not restoring", but the nice thing about digital restoration is that you still have your nice faded, scatched, beaten up original, but also a nice restored digital version to look at on your computer, or printed and displayed on the wall. As mentioned to Mark up above, I should have done this some time ago as some original prints that were in frames at my Mom's house, have faded quite noticeably over just a few years. She has since removed them, but we could make new prints and put them up instead if we felt like it. Anyhow, I think you can be as conservative as you like when restoring -- fixing rips, etc. If you want, you can go a little further. For example, in a family portrait, there was a small piece of the print torn away right on one person's eye. I cloned the other eye, reversed it, and pasted it onto that spot to replace the eye. I don't have a problem with that kind of thing. Some of our prints have some ink writing on top of them, so I like to get rid of that too. Some are stained badly, so I fix those when I can. What the heck... all of these damages weren't part of the "original" picture, so why not try to get them back to being as close to the way they were -- especially as we're just altering the digital copy of the original. Seems like a great project for you this summer! Yes, there is quite a bit of resemblance to my grandmother, but I also very much resemble my dad's mother - photos I've seen of her when she was young. An interesting thing about my parents is that some people used to meet them and think they were brother and sister, so it's probably not that odd that people say I look a lot like one or the other. I definitely have my Dad's smile. At my Dad's funeral, some of his friends who hadn't seen me since I was 4 or 5 years old, came right up to me in the room full of people and said they knew me right away from my smile as it is just like my Dad's (kind of a nice thing to have in common, actually). As for my grandmother, I'm going to write a post about her later this week after I get a few more photos fixed up. She loved the outdoors and was a very knowledgeable naturalist, and when at the cottage in summer, she loved to begin her day with a long walk before and just after dawn. However, for this morning, I have to get back to working on a post about snakes! (-: Wayne - Thanks! I was wondering when the first person would say, “Hey, those look good, can I send you some of mine?!” (-:
Regarding restoration, I shared some of that feeling about “not restoring”, but the nice thing about digital restoration is that you still have your nice faded, scatched, beaten up original, but also a nice restored digital version to look at on your computer, or printed and displayed on the wall. As mentioned to Mark up above, I should have done this some time ago as some original prints that were in frames at my Mom’s house, have faded quite noticeably over just a few years. She has since removed them, but we could make new prints and put them up instead if we felt like it. Anyhow, I think you can be as conservative as you like when restoring — fixing rips, etc. If you want, you can go a little further. For example, in a family portrait, there was a small piece of the print torn away right on one person’s eye. I cloned the other eye, reversed it, and pasted it onto that spot to replace the eye. I don’t have a problem with that kind of thing. Some of our prints have some ink writing on top of them, so I like to get rid of that too. Some are stained badly, so I fix those when I can. What the heck… all of these damages weren’t part of the “original” picture, so why not try to get them back to being as close to the way they were — especially as we’re just altering the digital copy of the original. Seems like a great project for you this summer!
Yes, there is quite a bit of resemblance to my grandmother, but I also very much resemble my dad’s mother - photos I’ve seen of her when she was young. An interesting thing about my parents is that some people used to meet them and think they were brother and sister, so it’s probably not that odd that people say I look a lot like one or the other. I definitely have my Dad’s smile. At my Dad’s funeral, some of his friends who hadn’t seen me since I was 4 or 5 years old, came right up to me in the room full of people and said they knew me right away from my smile as it is just like my Dad’s (kind of a nice thing to have in common, actually). As for my grandmother, I’m going to write a post about her later this week after I get a few more photos fixed up. She loved the outdoors and was a very knowledgeable naturalist, and when at the cottage in summer, she loved to begin her day with a long walk before and just after dawn. However, for this morning, I have to get back to working on a post about snakes! (-:

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