Random Stuff
Say! According to Blogger's count, today is my 3,500th post. Hooray! However, I won't break out my party hat until my 10th anniversary post. That's only a few months away.
Meanwhile... I am continuing my usual Sunday tradition of sharing photos that are either less-than-wonderful, or might have otherwise been outright rejects. Just because.
If this one was a little bit clearer, it would be a real winner, but our photographer had too much coffee, or had the "yips", or something. You don't often see the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship with all of the sails unfurled... those red and white stripes look amazing. Even the cement pond looks kind of pretty, the way it's reflecting the sky.
This one goes into the category of "you win some, you lose some"... I found some stereo slides of the park from 1956, and was very excited to scan them when I held them up to a bright light. However, every single one of them is out of focus. A lot. I honestly feel like the example below is the only one that is even remotely usable. I don't know if it was a case of user error, or an equipment malfunction, but ARG, what a shame!
12 comments:
I like how Cinderella's Castle blends into the horizon almost seeming like part of the outer landscape.
I like the second image because the stairway is visible and it shows how compact the Mark Twain really is.
If you ever feel like posting those blurry photos, I'm sure I'd find something to enjoy about them and sometime treasure can still be found from junk. Thanks, Major.
The first one is a real beauty, all fuzziness aside. With all of that canvas unfurled it looks like the pirate ship may just take flight.
3500 posts. Wow. Great job Major!
I am seeing the illusion of a single two-toned bobsled sliding down the giant patchwork quilt in that first pic (underneath the Casey Jr. trestle). Can anyone else see it?
That lady's dress in the second pic looks like it might have some inadvertent hidden Mickeys on it. I guess I'm seeing things today.
Oh, and congrats on your milestone post today, Major!
I see it now, TM!
From this angle, you can see how rounded the bow of the tuna boat was. It looked great, but if it were a real ship with that hull shape, it probably wouldn't have been able to move very fast. I'm sure the fact that it was set in concrete wouldn't have helped, either.
It's too bad about the out-of-focus set. Rangefinder cameras can be a pain to work with if you aren't good at estimating distances, and if you drop it or something gets loose and the focal length guide or whatever you call it gets out of calibration with the lens you are pretty much guaranteed to get out of focus pictures. Additionally, if you're used to using a fixed focal length camera most of the time and only switch to a rangefinder for special applications (like, oh, say a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland), you can just plain forget to focus altogether.
Congratulations on post number 3,500, Major!
I see a telephone pole! And what looks like the Circle D ranch houses out that way too.
Nice how the wires for the trim lights in the second picture are part of the design.
3,500th post? Man, are you lazy! ;)
Seriously, congrats to you, Major! That's quite an accomplishment and a lot of self discipline to turn out that many quality posts and on a daily basis. Your hard work is greatly appreciated.
@ TM!-
Undoubtedly the "bobsled" was Walt's inspiration for the Matterhorn-!
Major-
Both of these are quite wonderful, if a bit out of focus. And it would appear that in spite of the wonder of the Mark Twain, the "Mom" here, is not about to be upstaged. Besides her 'hidden Mickeys'/paw print dress, she's sporting some sort of "winged" hair style to go with her rather bold string of bobbles around her neck. I, of course, would more than likely be the kid next to her with the dumb (but happy) grin.
Also back in 1956, the steamer was still sporting its original (most-likely) A15-size light bulbs. I don't know when they made the change (the 1970's-?), but porcelain, Edison base to candelabra adapters were screwed into each socket to enable the use of the smaller, S6 lamps. Ahhh, light bulb minutia-!
And, Major - congrats and mazel tov on your 3,500th post-! I certainly hope you've chosen another avenue to celebrate the occasion than a (rather large) cake with a candle representing each post-! Things could get a bit toasty...
Wow 3,500! That’s a lot of hard work Major! Just know that we all do appreciate what you do for us very much.
Sometimes when I look at these photos of these handsome 1950s-60s people I wonder where they are now. This cheerful young man looks like he could have achieved many great things in life. A doctor, an engineer, or something maybe, a bunch of children and grandchildren, and I wonder if he still remembers that wonderful day at D-land with his sweet mother.
I don’t know, my brain just goes there sometimes.
Thank you Major, keep up the good work!
K. Martinez, that first photo shows a rare glimpse of Cinderella’s Castle with the cloaking device partially activated. I do like many of the photos in that lot of stereo slides, but trust me, they are SO blurry that I doubt I’ll post any of them. I might even try to sell them someday.
walterworld, the Pirate Ship does look so much more spectacular with the sails unfurled!
TokyoMagic!, I see what you mean, the bobsled shape is made up of the negative space in that archway. Cool!
Chuck, if you look at old illustrations of pirate ships, they don’t look very speedy. Very fat and oddly-shaped. But what do I know, maybe they were very fast for their day. I do wonder if the photographer of photo #2 was using a new camera and hadn’t gotten the hang of things yet. Whatever the case may be, it is a real shame.
Patrick Devlin, I wonder if the ranch was called “Circle D” way back then? Somehow it sounds like a more recent invention. I really have no idea though. Thanks for pointing out the wires in #2, that is an interesting detail.
K. Martinez, I AM lazy! Thanks for the nice words.
Nanook, in spite of that lady’s winged hairdo, I think she looks pretty spiffy! You sure don’t see folks dressed like that anymore, unless it is “Dapper Day”. A15 bulbs, S6 lamps, I don’t know anything about those! I will have to start a light bulb blog. As for cake… maybe when I reach my “Tencennial”!
Monkey Cage Kurt, you should see the calluses on my button-pushing finger! I need to file for Disability. Like you, I often wonder about the people in the photos… you know that their lives were a combination of happiness and grief, like anybody else’s. But I want a happy MGM-musical life for them!
The sad and common denominator with all of these vintage slides is that there wasn't someone/anyone in the family who cared enough to save the memories. My family has albums of our childhood thanks to my Mom, and throwing them out would be unthinkable...
@ walterworld-
You pose an interesting conundrum: Many families sacrifice personal memories so [unknowingly to them] many, many others can vicariously experience their visit.
In my case, a recent death in the family brought me back to my childhood home. I had remembered many, many slides and home movies sitting in our main hall closet. I was not disappointed when I ventured within. Not only did I discover many slides from Disneyland and other places of interest for many of the GDB faithful (keep your eyes peeled), but many of the images captured the 'younger selves' of many who attended the funeral. So, to your point, our family somehow managed to keep "our memories" that can now be shared not only with family members, but also others with a shared interest will benefit, too. In my case, it'll be a win-win.
walterworld, I agree that it is sad, and yet I see that my siblings and I will be faced with the question of what to do with the hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of snapshots that are from my grandparents and my parents. Boxes and boxes of them. Many of them show people that we don’t recognize (friends of my grandparents, for instance). I don’t know what we’re going to do!
Nanook, this blog wouldn’t exist if not for the dissemination of many other people’s personal photos. Of course in a perfect world folks would be able to keep everything of sentimental value. But… it’s not so simple. You are fortunate that you were able to go home and find so many photos of your own lifetime experiences. I am looking forward to seeing some of them!
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