The Voyage 2

Is it just me, or do others find the new Blogger set up to be needlessly complex and not all that good.  Oh well, what can you do.  The tech heads are our new rulers.  I suspect, one day, we'll all have to pay tribute to the technically inclined.  A little bow, touch the cap brim, and say, "Please sir, can you look with pleasure on my unworthy self."

So, back to the southern seas collection.  Imagine a world, before air travel, before the Panama Canal, when  getting cargo or passengers from one ocean to another required a voyage through the southern seas.  The route from Atlantic to Pacific involved a trip through the Straits of Magellan.  A narrow channel between the mainland of South America and Tierra del Fuego.  The straits were protected from the harsh conditions of the open ocean, but still subject to bad whether, powerful and unpredictable currents, and shallow reefs.

Written on the backs of the photos from top to bottom, "Smythe Canal,"  "Smythe Canal,"  "Straights of Magellan,"  Gletseher Bar,  Straights of Magellan, Crossing the Bar,"  Magellan Straights," and "German Sailing Ship."  Note, a strait is a narrow channel between two pieces of land.  Straight is, well a straight line.  The photos may have been taken by a seaman, but one who didn't know the difference between the two words.

And why doesn't the spellls chekr wokr?

A Faded Beach-The Baker Family 6

What is it about the Baker family? Did they leave their photographs out in the sun or did their photo finisher not understand the concept of a proper fix and archival wash? Anyway, it's more than just the photos that have faded. The type of beach resort (Hampton Beach, New Hampshire) seen in these images are also a bit of a faded memory. While they still exist, the open beach, open to all resorts are being replaced by a more exclusive type of development. High end hotels, gambling casinos, and ocean front mansions are cutting off the general public from ocean access. Here in Los Angeles it's a constant battle with the wealthy building homes adjacent to public beaches and then doing their best to prevent the general public from crossing their land to get to the ocean. On paper it's still open to all, but when they are allowed to get away with it, those beaches become private. I've decided to break up the Baker family collection and not post them back to back. Just click on baker family in the labels section to bring them all up. More to follow.

The Lighthouse

This is one of the strangest images I have in my collection, not because of the image itself, but because it's a transparency made on a very thin film. I think, but I'm far from sure, that this is a contact made from a negative.