Happy April 1st, junior gorillas. I was working on an April Fools idea, but didn't give myself enough time to finish it, so... it's "business as usual" today. Sorry!
Anyway... I've gone back into the archives where my "previously scanned slides" are. You know, next to the "Birds of America" by John James Audubon, and the Gutenberg Bible. I wanted to try my hand at rescanning and re-restoring images that appeared here many years ago. The results were OK!
Both photos are from 1958, with a boy and a girl who are in the "First Family"; they were each enjoying a ride on the Pack Mules.
Here's the original scan (color-corrected from a magenta slide), posted in 2010; it looks kind of cold and gray, with an unpleasant cyan, greenish cast. No bueno.
The new scan and restoration was worthwhile, I'd say... it's not extraordinary, but I'm still pretty happy with it.
This one was originally posted back in 2009; even after my initial attempt to restore it, the thing looks oddly yellow, with sooty black shadows. C minus!
Our girl's clothing now has its proper red stripes, and the shadows are less oppressive. I'm not entirely happy with the way Rainbow Ridge appears, but no matter what I did, there was always something off.
Say, maybe I'll try rescanning even more old slides!
Very nice! Today is the great, big, beautiful tomorrow for these old gems.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of old, at first I thought the white mule's ears were a bird coming in for a landing in front of the stripey girl. I guess I need to get my eyeballs rescanned and restored.
Melissa, it IS a seagull that disguises itself as mule ears to protect itself from predators. It's funny, somebody posted a neat piece of Disneyland concept art showing the Viewliner up on an elevated beamway like the Monorail... there are two "birds" that my brain interpreted as a man falling from the sky. Maybe I'll have to add it to this post so that you can see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteMajor, your skills and equipment continue to improve.
ReplyDeleteI vote that you re-scan and re-touch the entire blog.
It's fun to see these kids again, all dressed up for a day in the Park.
JG
I'm with JG. Re-scan and re-touch everything! That should make the blog last until 2032 or another 13 years! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major.
My mom was always saying "smile!" before she took a picture. No one in these photos seems to be smiling. What gives? If I were there, riding the mules in Rainbow Ridge, I would be grinning from ear to ear. These two look like pod people. Your skills as a pix fixer are awesome, but these two could probably benefit from a snort or two of nitrous oxide. Thanks Major. By the way, I'm smiling!
ReplyDelete@ JC Shannon-
ReplyDeleteClearly, our gal in the red/white stripes didn't get the 'smile!' memo from your mom. In fact, it almost looks as though she's about to break into tears. Yeeesh - sitting there atop that mule, with a pair of cute ears twitching back and forth as she's parading through Nature's Wonderland - I can't understand why she's not displaying a big smile on her face from ear-to-ear.
Thanks, Major, for enlivening these images.
Nanook, she's freaking out because there's a seagull right there.
ReplyDeleteSmiling faces, smiling faces, sometimes
ReplyDeleteThey don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies and I got proof
Not everyone shows their emotions on their face. My niece is in total bliss when she's at Disneyland,but her face looks like that of the young girl on the mule no matter what is happening in the moment. What's on her face isn't necessarily what's inside.
Even for myself, I'm sure I've looked like a zombie or pod person after running around Disneyland all day and over doing it. Eventually saturation settles in and one zones out with that glazed expressionless look on their face.
And who knows. Maybe it was super hot and humid that day and the kids were miserable out in the open with no shade to cool them down.
@ Ken-
ReplyDeleteOf course you're correct - but it's so much fun to 'judge' others...
JG, it’s amazing what a little learnin’ will do!
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, OY VEY
Jonathan, the trouble with telling kids to smile is that they show their teeth but it looks like they are going to go for your throat. Perhaps the kids were just tired… it happens.
Nanook, it looks like the girl has a slight smile to me. Sort of a “Mona Lisa” thing, it’s a bit hard to read. I don’t think her ears are twitching back and forth though, they would be blurry (har-de-har-har).
Chuck, this past weekend we watched in horror as a seagull killed another bird. Those things are NASTY.
K. Martinez, I would like to hear this “proof” that you speak of! I had to look on Wikipedia to see who sang that song, it was “The Undisputed Truth”. Did you know that? I sure didn’t! I agree, a person can generally be having fun, but they won’t be grinning *all* the time. That would look scary and/or crazy.
Nanook, it’s funny ‘cause it’s true!
Major, actually I did not not that. I've always liked that song and the Motown sound of the 60's and 70's.
ReplyDeleteMajor, Wow! What did I write there? What I meant to write was I did not know that.
ReplyDeleteThese are lovely, Major! The view of the little boy especially reminds me of a 3D picture like a Viewmaster has. :D
ReplyDelete