DURING the last few summers, I've spent a fair amount of time digitizing and archiving my parents' old photos and home movies. This summer is no different.
There are thousands of photos. I had to Photoshop most of 'em. It seems to be an endless project, but, in truth, it's almost finished.
Today, I worked through some old family photographs from 1964, taken on a family vacation to the Central Valley (Fresno!), the Sacramento River (mosquitoes!), Mt. Lassen (a volcano), Lake Tahoe (cold!), and portions of the Sierra Nevada (spectacular!). (I modified these pics to be shown on a blog. To see the raw and unfiltered photos, go here.)
For reasons unknown, my dad decided to bring his father, Otto, along for the trip. And so the six of us—my parents, my sister Annie, my brother Ray, "Opa," and I—headed north in our crummy six-cylinder "green Ford," hauling a trailer. The trailer, it turns out, was just for Opa.
The pic above was taken along Highway 395, probably north of Bridgeport.
Above: at a campfire, somewhere in Northern California. A ranger told us the story of "Falling Rocks." I believed it.
Atop Mt. Lassen, the volcano. That's Mt. Shasta in the distance. I kept asking my dad, "What if the mountain erupts?"
At the time, my dad was a smoker. He gave it up a few months after the trip because he didn't want any of his kids to become smokers.
That's my late brother Ray riding on my dad's shoulders. The kid never stopped squirming.
We became American citizens a year or two after this trip.
6 comments:
Amazing. But, I do wish you'd non-filter them!
Trust me, dude, most of these would like like shite without touchup and filtering. But one or two might survive. I'll post that, maybe tomorrow.
Very cool pics. ES
These seem memorable trips, Ray, much like the ones my dad took us on to Montana, Wisconsin, Utah, California. We were living outside of Chicago at the time.
Thanks for the flood of my memories.
13, I did as you suggested. I have made available at least some of these photos in "unfiltered" (pre-filtered) form here.
I should explain that my "archiving" efforts generally involve minimal filtering. Typically, my efforts involve overcoming the effects of age on the actual film (a washed out look with weak color) and wear and tear-- including grime and dust to varying degrees. The photos I put up last night were tarted up to a greater degree because I am conscious of the venue: a blog viewed by many people with low resolution monitors.
I am not a professional photographer but I do know what I enjoy and I LOVE the unfiltered photos. They are so cool and I think they look awesome...meaning they look more meaningful to me unflitered. Oh and I wanted you to know that have a computer from 2005 (nothing fancy) and they still look great!! I have really enjoyed your family photos. Thanks for sharing this part of your life which has prompted me to revisit family photos with my very elderly parents. They have caused me to reflect upon my own family this is good. I don't do it enough due to life getting in the way!
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