Advance warning: upcoming SDC and Dogpatch photo bomb!

KBCraig · July 17, 2011, 04:33:29 AM

I visited my mother today for a couple of hours, en route to my 30th high school class reunion. (Yes, I'm old, as my lovely child bride born in 1969 keeps reminding me. Shaddup!)

An uncle by marriage passed away earlier this week, and Mom had a couple of boxes of photos that we perused, from her side of the family. She also mentioned a box of "her" photos, which I pulled out and was amazed to find many photos of my childhood that I never knew existed.

Among them were a series of pics from Dogpatch, from a family trip to St. Louis in 1968, plus a bunch from SDC from roughly 1969-72. I don't remember riding the stagecoach, but there's photographic evidence that I did (or at least sat in it with a bunch of other kids). There are blacksmith pics, including at least one of Shad Heller. Lots of various craftsman pics, and Citizen pics (young-ish male citizens seemed to be especially drawn to my older sister for some reason). There are a couple of the North/South skirmish on Main Street, and other Main Street skits, but I don't recall what they're about.

Because we had a tight schedule, I was only able to go through about a quarter of the photos. I'm going back with my scanner, to get it all. Then I'll make an online album to share it with everyone here. There are at least 2-3 dozen pics from SDC and DP, but that's just a guesstimate.

Dad was a professional photographer with a wedding and portrait studio, so the vast majority of these pics are several levels above "snapshot" grade. All were shot on 120mm film (2 1/4 square format), with either a Hasselblad 500c or Yashicamat. Probably the Hassy; I don't recall him ever taking the Yashica on vacation.

sanddunerider · July 17, 2011, 05:01:02 AM

thats a great find for you. will be fun to look at pics from that far back.. Remeber to handle them carefully..... because they are ANTIQUES!!! LOL. thats what my kids keep telling me about my stuff!.

Junior · July 17, 2011, 10:38:36 AM

Hey, great find! Looking forward to seeing the photos. Please post 'em soon!

betamike · July 17, 2011, 11:41:17 AM

Would LOVE to see these!

StaceySue · July 17, 2011, 10:18:37 PM

Can't wait to see your pictures!

chittlins · July 17, 2011, 10:31:01 PM

Wife has relatives that worked at Dogpatch. Her family roots are in Newton Co. Place is a mess now. Sad, Sad, Sad.

KBCraig · July 18, 2011, 03:49:03 AM

If I can really score, I'll find the negatives, which might produce even more pics.

Dad was very much a photographer from the "pre-motor drive" age, where a roll of film contained 12 shots and took 2-3 minutes to load, so he never, ever, wasted film. He also selected carefully what to print, so he is bound to have had a number of negatives from these trips that he didn't print.

All of these photos are in color, and he didn't process his own color film, nor print his own color photos (he did his own B&W processing, something I loved "helping" with from a very early age). So, he would have sent the film to Pinky's in Little Rock to be developed, and get a contact sheet back in return, then he would have selected the best to be printed then place his order with Pinky's.

Wow. Just thinking about the change from 40 years ago, where the process took weeks to get a single finished photo back in the mail, instead of the many dozens of digital photos we can view instantly. Not to mention, those film photos were almost all worth keeping, but most of our digitals are never seen again.

It's a toss-up: I love the best of both worlds. I just wish my Canon T90, or the Hasselblad 500c I inherited, took digital pics. (The Hassy can with the right digital back, and the T90 has modern digital equivalents, but both cost many thousands more than I can afford.)