Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Take a picture, it lasts longer.

 


Thing of the past ...
Kuhlman-Periman Ranch, Barn, County Route 28, Dolores, Montezuma County, CO
Contributor Names
Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Lowe, Jet, photographer
Insinga, David J, delineator
Created / Published
Documentation compiled after 1933
Notes
- Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-11
- Survey number: HABS CO-39-A
 

 
 
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
 
The thing is, I have a photographic memory.
That is not exactly what you think, however.
I remember things as images, and quotes, and snap shots of time.
Sometimes that memory is accurate. Other times, not so much.
 
 Depends on which lens I see things through. What chemistry I use to process. Focus, and lighting, camera and enlarger, paper and vacuum board, resolution and file storage, pixel depth and display material, image software, exposure time, and color saturation. And about a million other variables.

For as long as I can remember, I have looked at the world that way.
My first trip to an emergency room was the result of sticking my thumb through a blown Speed Graphic flash bulb. I have photographed probably everything from space shuttles and U.S. presidents, to pets of the week and my own thumb.
I love the old photographs and the new ones. Positive and negative. Color and black and white. Big cameras and small.

I think the smallest camera I have ever operated was one of those microscopic surgical jobs they sometimes check your heart valves with, and the largest — was a process camera for shooting newspaper page negs and had a room of its own, and was on rails.
Cameras are my best friends.

Yes, I have favorites. But they might not be what you think.
An old two and quarter, two and quarter, Dualflex III Kodak with a Kodet lens, (amazing depth of field), the range of Speed Graphics, a Nikon FG 35 mm I bought in J-school, a Kodak Easy Share 195 14 megapixel with 5 x Aspheric lens ($60), Canon EOS 60 D (I shoot most stuff with now) and the first camera I probably ever snapped, a Spartucus "35 F" 400.
Some of my best friends and heroes are behind cameras.
Hector, Pleasants, Oguz Nayman, Jimmy, Perry, Ansel, Jackson, Yousuf, Capa, Dorthea, Ulesman, Gyula, Liebovitz, Duffy, Cartier-Bresson, Maisel, Poley, Chione. 
 
My enemies take photos, and try to capture my soul.
Eidetic memory is the ability to recall images in great detail for several minutes. It is found in early childhood (between 2% and 10% of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's intelligence level. The ability usually begins to fade after the age of six years, perhaps as growing verbal skills alter the memory process.

Perhaps I have never progressed beyond that six years, but some of my most vivid images are nearly 60 years old now.
"It is difficult to disentangle memory abilities that appear early from those cultivated through interest and training. Most people who have exhibited truly extraordinary memories in some domain have seemed to possess them all their lives and honed them further through practice," says Barry Gordon, a professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a recent Scientific American article.

Regardless, I need to keep up my image.

“I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate,” wrote Charlotte Bronte in "Jane Eyre."

My memories are photographic, but that is not exactly what you think.
 
 

Thing of the past ...
Fort Morgan switchboard
Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company exchange in Fort Morgan (Morgan County), Colorado; operators with headsets sit at a switchboard with a clock and kerosene lamp. Women's outfits include a shawl and upswept hair styles.
Date: 1914
Notes: Penciled on negative envelope: "C-Ft. Morgan-Exchange Equipment."; Title penciled on negative envelope.
Type of Material: Glass negatives.; Imaged.; Image
Format-Medium: Photograph.
History Colorado.
 

Thing of the past ...
Town group in front of the old Wood's Hotel in Walden, Colorado
Date: 1895
Men, boys, a dog, and burro in Walden, Jackson County, Colorado, by Wood's Hotel. They are (l to r): K. J. Mac Callum, Bill Wells, Dave Semple, Harold Semple, John Davis, Jack Mckee, Ed Anderson, Mr. Clapper, ?, Oliver Allard, Ben Mosman behind Ray Mosman, Chas. Bock, Bill Pine, Vern Loucks, Geo. Winterburn, and Chester Loucks.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint on mat board ; 17 x 22 cm (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)
Digital Version Created From Presented to the Denver Public Library by George J. Bailey, Walden, Colorado.
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints.
Notes: Photoprint has a section torn out. Stamps on back read: "Pay to First National Bank, Laramie Wyo. or order, Irene Mosman."; Title, "#41," and identification hand-written on front of mat.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
City waterworks, Akron, Colo.
Creator: Calvert.
Date: [1886-1890]
Two-story native stone structure with a windmill on its hipped roof and a tall cylindrical water tank (standpipe) in Akron, Washington County, Colorado. Building once housed city offices, jail, and the water well. Windmill and watertank no longer stand. Building later used as a museum.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.); 1 photoprint ; 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in.)
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Hand-written on paper label on back of photoprint: Akron, Colorado, 9. The original Town Hall - & fire engine house also the town pump and stand pipe. This building was built in 1886 & 87 is now the Museum building - The standpipe and windmill have long since been taken down. It was in this building the first commissioner met until the newly acquired court house was available. It was used as a court house for only a short time in 1887. This building is made of native rock. Title and photographer hand-lettered on original.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Tracklayer on the Moffat RR extension from Steamboat Springs to Craig, Colo
Date: 1913
Donor: Mary B. Wenzlick, December 9, 1978.
Denver and Salt Lake Railroad construction near Hayden (Routt County), Colorado. Men work with track, ties, and hoists on a work car. Summer, 1913.
Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print (postcard) ; 6 x 11 cm (2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
Type of Material: Photographic postcards
Notes: Condition: postcard cropped. Postcard edges cropped. Title inked on verso, with "They were working west of Hayden Colo."
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
The first automobile in Meeker
Creator: Wildhack, H. A.
Date: April 12, 1904
Donor: Gordon A. Weller, Meeker, Colo.
A crowd gathers around the first automobile in town, in front of Meeker Stables, Harp's Livery, Main Street, Meeker, Colorado. The automobile owned by Horace Simpson Harp, partner in the Harp Stage Line that operated between Grand Junction, Rifle, and Meeker.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Type of Material Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Title and description typed on label on back photoprint; additional information: photo from the Wildhack collection Meeker Chamber of Commerce.
Denver Public Library Special Collections
 

Thing of the past ...
Main St. Grand Junction, Colo.
Creator: Dean, Frank E., photographer.
Trolley number "2" on Main Street in Grand Junction (Mesa County), Colorado. Shows the round dome, finial and American flag of the Canon Block at the corner of 4th (Fourth) and Main Street. Horse-drawn wagons, buggies and people are near brick or stone commercial buildings. Utility poles and electric wires are over the dirt street, buildings have awnings, and signs read: "Un[cl]e Sam Loan Office," and "The Crown Furniture."
Date: 1910
Notes History Colorado.; Condition: worn.; Date inked on verso.; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Grand Junction"; Masking and fading on original negative reproduced in photographic print.; Title and attribution inked on original negative and reproduced in photographic print.; R7200044501
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 17 cm. (5 x 7 in.)
Is Part Of: History Colorado, Original photographs collection.
 

Thing of the past ...
Colorado State College of Education buildings
Creator: Calvin, Skeets.
Date: 1949 March 12
A somber Helen Langworthy, Theater Director, appraises the damage done by the fire in Cranford Hall in March, 1949, on the campus of the Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado and formerly the State Normal School, the Colorado Teachers College, and Colorado State College) in Greeley, Colorado, in Weld County. Charred boards and debris litter the ground. The roof of the building has burned away, and the sky is visible.
Format of Original Material: 1 photoprint ; 24 x 19 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Digital Version Created From Max 17.
Type of Material: Photographic prints
Notes: Photoprint has been altered with gray and black paint. Photoprint is warped and has tack holes in the corners. Printed on newsprint and attached to back of photoprint: "Fire unexpectedly stole the show as a student theater group at Colorado State College laid plans for a play production at Greeley. Two days after the group held its dress rehearsal for "The Male Animal" the theater was destroyed in a fire which razed the east end of historic Cranford Hall on the campus. Helen Langworthy, theater director, surveys the wreckage (above). Despite the loss of costumes and props, the play went on - at a downtown Greeley theater."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
 

Thing of the past ...
Original Crocker/Culbertson's ranch house and Mount Olympus, Estes Park
Date:[1885-1910?]
A group of three men, six women, and three children pose in front a two-story gable-roofed log building in Estes Park, Colorado, probably built in 1885 and owned by Lester Stuyvesant, Alfred Rowe, Culbertson, and/or Crocker. Scene includes antlers over the doorway, Victorian chairs, a man holding a rifle, and several people with long thin poles (possibly fishing poles). Mount Olympus is behind the house.
Format of Original Material:1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 12 cm (4 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.)
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Image has rounded top corners, and may have been originally part of a stereo card. Photoprint has writing in red ink, black ink, and pencil on back. "Culbertson's" in black ink has been marked out and supplanted with "Original Crocker." Other red ink reads: "Built circa 1885 before any other of the log cabins on the property by Lester Stuyvesant ? Original Crocker, house. Crocker bought from Lester ? Stuyvesant - No one has any memory of a Culbertson among old timers in Estes in 1963." In pencil: "Owned by Alfred Rowe, first homesteader. " In black ink: Culbertson's Ranch and Mount Olympus, Estes Park, Colorado."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...
Cage scene, Ajax Mine, flashlight
Creator: Masters, O. E.
Interior view of a group of miners who pose near the cage lifts at Ajax Mine near Cripple Creek in Teller County, Colorado. The men wear work clothes, boots, and hats. Some men hold candles in their hands.
Date: [between 1890 and 1900?]
Notes: History Colorado.; Formerly F1135; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Mines-Ajax Mine."; Title inked on original negative and reproduced in print.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 24 x 20 cm. (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Is Part Of: History Colorado, original photographs collection.


 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

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