Time wasting site: Historic photos

[Pooka]

The site is www.life.com/hdgallery (clicking on this will give you a 'page not found' but if you click on HOME it will come up) and it contains a lot of photos that never made into the publication. It also has scans of photographers notes on what the photos are supposed to be. Since the photos are displayed in HD it is possible to see details that a magazine photo just could not produce.

The section on WW 2 is really interesting to look at if you are into that sort of thing.

In the descriptions of the photos there is usually the reporters notes on what you are looking at and if those notes were found to be wrong there is also a correction. This is kind of interesting to read since it shows that just because you are an eyewitness to something you are not always correct when you are describing what you have seen.

The site is laid out well and there are about a bajillion pictures to look at. I know there are some history nuts here that would enjoy this site.

[tjts1]

Page Not Found

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by tjts1

I think he said that you had to push the home page button.

[MS Fowler]

Life magazine was a graduate-level course in 35mm photography delivered to your house every week.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

I think he said that you had to push the home page button.

Yeah i tried that. Must be something with my browser if it works for everybody else.

[Honus]

Here's a great site for old photos: Shorpy Historical Photo Archive | Vintage Fine Art Prints

Incredible resolution on some those photos.

[Pooka]

If you can't get to the Life site through the link above then try to just Google it. It is worth the effort.

And thanks to MS Fowler for pointing out what 'Life' was. I tend to forget that not everyone here is as old as myself and may not have ever seen a Life magazine or understand what its' role in American life was before the introduction of Television.

[Pooka]

Well, that Shorpy site is amazing as well.

I am currently doing some research work on Americas' first days of WW 2 and with these old photos it is possible to uncover small details that others might have overlooked.

Besides, there are people on here that really do have an interest in learning and these sites do add to the fun.

[MS Fowler]

Photographs are great not only because they preserve an instant in time, forever. Sometimes they also capture something quite unintended by the photographer.

For example, I am helping a friend restore his '38 Ford pick up. We need to see what the firewall should look like because the battery sits there, and his was mutilated by acid. While thumbing thru my copy of [U]The Early Ford V8--As Henry Built it[U], I saw a picture of exactly what I needed in the section on body construction and painting. The picture was not about the battery box, or the firewall, yet it contained that information.
At the risk of hijacking the thread---the same could be said about the pictures of the "Grassy Knoll" in Dallas--as to whether or not they show a "badge man" behind the picket fence. That information ( or shadow) was not in the photographer's mind when he took that picture, but it has helped fuel a controversy ever since.

[Honus]

Shorpy's got a creepy one today: Bal Masque: 1922 | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

Here's the enlarged version: Bal Masque: 1922 | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

[kerry]

I used to work for Wide World Photos in NYC, which was the magazine arm of the Associated Press. They're photo library was incredible. It was pretty routine to print out copies from glass negatives.

[abiggercamera]

I count 34 men wearing sheets and an assortment of a#*holes.