Lasse- & maybe a big family gathering--a bit of a photographic wing-ding somewhere in addition to the web site suggestion below. You may not get all your answers, but you just might minimize the "detective work" you talked about. Best of luck with your project. Cheers, Christine
----- Original Message ----- From: "George Sinos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 10:17 AM Subject: Re: My uncle's photos. Longish. > Lasse - > > You likely have more to think about than this suggestion, but I'll > toss it out there as an idea. > > The detective work might make an interesting community project. You > might consider scanning a number of the photos that are representative > of places and times. Putting those on a public web site where > community members can offer comments as to the identity and time frame > may be very interesting. > > This, of course, would make work for you, so using a web site like > Smugmug, Flicker or any of the many others would significantly reduce > your work. > > GS > <http://georgesphotos.net> > > On Dec 21, 2007 9:31 AM, Lasse Karlsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> Sorry, this got much longer than intended. >> >> Two years ago my uncle (my mother's brother) passed away. Peacefully, at >> around 84, I believe. He was a photographer. >> (Not by profession - he was a "radio-telegraphist" (literally translated >> from Swedish - if you know what his profession would be called in >> English, >> please report (or in German, French, Spanish and Italian too). He'd be in >> charge of tele communications for instance on a ship. However I believe >> he >> only did one trip in the mid 50:s. He got too sea sick to carry on at >> sea! >> :) So instead of travelling the high seas (which a lot of Alanders did >> and >> do, since international shipping is and has long been a major industry of >> Aland) he took a job at the local "Coastal-radio station" (literally >> translated). I am now happy he did, since this meant that he'd shoot a >> lot >> of pictures locally in Aland and his and my home town, Mariehamn.) >> >> After his wife also passed away last year, I first told his daughter/my >> cousin, that all his picture archives, negatives and prints etc., MUST be >> taken care of and I also offered me to do it. I actually had been >> emphasizing this already with my uncle (who appreciated my thoughts - but >> he >> was already starting to lose some of his intellectual capacity) as well >> as >> with my aunt/his wife, who to my horror first gave me some ambigious >> statements, making me wonder if she actually had disposed of it all. She >> had >> at least at times expressed thoughts like "I'm so tired of all his photos >> and those things, I think I'm going to throw it all away...". (Sheer >> horror >> at the thought - not only did we, the family, know of his unique family >> photos of which we had been given many copies, but I also >> knew/thought/hoped >> there'd also be pictures of great local documentary value in his >> archives.) >> Luckily, it eventually turned out that his photo archives had been >> preserved >> after all... (Sigh of relief... right? :) ) >> >> Since also his daughter, living abroad, at first when having to deal with >> emptying and selling her parents' house, didn't seem to care that much >> about >> the photos or my enthusiasm for them, I now realize that all the time up >> till now, the question about my uncle's photo archives, actually has >> meant >> some considerable concern, almost stress, to me. >> Anyway, during the last couple of months I have been helping her cousin >> clearing her (family) house, as it was sold. I guess I slowly gained the >> trust and understanding for my views on the photos, since I now have been >> given my uncle's photo archives (at least as a deposition and for getting >> them sorted out, cleaned up and making some sort of an inventory of >> them). I >> also got a lot of other old camera and dark room stuff, some a little >> interesting but most of which I will have to find another home for. >> >> My uncle - Erik, by the way - had the good taste of early on - that is in >> the early 1950s - choosing to shoot color slides, at a time when not too >> many people did so around here. >> For a couple of weeks now I have spent most of the days and nights doing >> everything that possibly can be made to the most important part of the >> archives, that is sorting out and cleaning his earliest slides. (From all >> his some 60 active years there will be thousands of slides, and thousand >> of >> negatives). >> >> Well, regarding his archives there is indeed a lot more that could have >> been >> desired. Listen to this: I have yet to come across one single note of >> date, >> place or persons depicted to any of his slides, negatives or single >> photographs! >> Not one single peace of information anywhere! :) (This makes for some >> interesting intellectual detective work on my part. In a way I don't >> mind, >> since it is very interesting. On the other hand I'd really want to spend >> the >> time on my own projects. However, I'm starting to think there will be at >> least an exhibition of his photos. Maybe a book, but I'm not sure about >> how >> to finance such a project.) >> >> Yet, he was very well aware of what was considered to be even the most >> basic >> method of filing negatives and slides. From late 1940s onwards he'd >> subscribe to photography magazines where such things repeatedly were >> discussed, just as we are discussing it on this list. He was in his daily >> work as well as in his capacity as a local politician, very much aware of >> the necessity of properly filing documents of all kinds. Yet, regarding >> this >> one personally very important part of his life, he never applied even the >> most basic filing method. My guess is that he simply never got started, >> although always thinking he'd have to, and in the end never got about to >> start while all new pictures added mounted to an even bigger and too big >> a >> task... >> >> The only thing there (thankfully) is, are quite a few albums (still only >> a >> small part of his output) that he, on my insisting it, started to put >> together very late in his years (but as I indicated, he was already >> starting >> to lose his capacity to do it completely) where many of his later prints >> were sorted, but only roughly by subject, year or maybe a month. >> >> Anyway, I see that this message is getting too long. I actually just >> wanted >> to tell you more about his actual photography and what an experience, on >> many different levels, it has been and is, dealing with this legacy of >> this >> one 20th century man's life's output of photographs. >> >> Maybe you can relate to this story, since I guess most of you, already >> having assembled a great amount of photographic documents of various >> kind, >> or on your way to do so, every now and then, just like I do, ask yourself >> what to do with your archives or what will become of them when you're not >> longer around. >> >> Maybe I'll get back to his actual photographs later. >> >> Thanks for reading, >> Lasse >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
