Thursday, December 14, 2017

Frontierland Instamatics, August 1969

Boy, do I love this first photo; It was taken from the back of one of the Pack Mules as it clip-clopped through Nature's Wonderland; I don't believe I have any other similar angles showing a Mine Train as it passed over the trestle that crossed the river through Bear Country. Wonderful!


When I sent the previous scan to Mr. X (who took the photo), he asked if I could add a nicer sky using Photoshop, because he wanted to have a print made. I decided to give it a whirl! In addition to the sky, I lightened the rest of the photo and upped the color saturation. In general I don't like to alter photos beyond ordinary cleanup and restoration, but in this case it seemed like a fun exercise.


Not far away, the Columbia waited at the dock in Frontierland as passengers boarded. Even in 1969, Frontierland still looks pretty "frontiery", surprisingly. 


11 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Oh, please Major, folks in Hollywood [and elsewhere] have been "altering photos beyond ordinary cleanup..." since the beginning of motion pictures. They're called 'colorists'; and I might say the work done in this example rivals the best of 'em. Had you not said anything, we would've assumed Mother Nature was responsible for the more picture-perfect sky and brighter Mine Train cars. The changes are a nice improvement that we can all enjoy.

Thanks to you, & Mr. X-!

TokyoMagic! said...

Great job, Major. I want to step into that Mine Train photo and live there....like forever.

Chuck said...

Wow. Just...wow.

DrGoat said...

You guys said it all. In continuing the tradition in place here, that pic of the mine train will become the next in a long line of wallpaper I use at work.

K. Martinez said...

AWESOME!!! I don't think I've ever seen the Mine Train trestle from this angle before, within your collection or elsewhere. This IS Disneyland, the place I experienced in my youth and loved.

What you did here reminds me of duplicate photo Disneyland postcards with two different skies. In fact wasn't there a Cascade Peak/Mark Twain postcard that had that? Every once in a while a gem of a photo shows up on your blog. Today is one of those days. Thanks, Major.

Anonymous said...

Well, that's funny. The map said that Nature's Wonderland and the Rainbow Caverns are supposed to be right here. But somebody put a big thundering mountain on top of them.

Reference: https://youtu.be/0dWj2k4FMM8

Yes, isn't it nice that Disney's making reference to their old attractions in their newer cartoons?

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I’m not sure why, but I always felt like altering photos to a certain degree felt… well, not “unethical”, really, but just “icky”. Way back in the early days I added a better sky to another photo (also at someone else’s suggestion), and I felt weird about it! I know that Hollywood has been doing this kind of thing for years, but they’re in the entertainment biz, while I feel like I am (in my own small way) in the history biz.

TokyoMagic!, thanks! Mr. X wanted me to make the sky much bluer, and I could have (I reduced the sky overlay’s opacity drastically), but it started to look phony.

Chuck, :-)

DrGoat, I am glad that the photo will find a place on your desktop.

K. Martinez, yeah, I was excited when Mr. X gave me this slide. He confirmed that he had snapped it while riding a pack mule, which is pretty neat. There are lots of Disneyland postcards with alterations, including many with altered skies. I have considered doing a blog post or two about those, since I have a thing for weird variatioins.

The Disney Dudebro, I love it when they reference old attractions in those new cartoons! This one was especially good. Clearly the writers and directors are fans of Nature’s Wonderland.

Anonymous said...

Major, joining in the chorus of praise for this fantastic photo and your delicate enhancement.

@Tokyo, I am pitching my tent on the other side of the trestle. Come over for coffee.

JG

Melissa said...

I love *both* versions of the Mine Train photo. I'm glad I don't have to choose!

Anonymous said...

Boy that is a rare shot of the MT. I'm going to share that with some of my former MT buddies! KS

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, ha ha, soon Nature’s Wonderland will have hundreds of people living there!

Melissa, it’s true! You can enjoy them both.

KS, I’m glad that a former Mine Train CM (and his buddies) enjoys that photo so much!