Random Object Photographs

Brownie

Yes, it still works.

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My great grandfather homesteaded in Custer County, Nebraska.
This is his family at the grave of "Little Willie" who died in infancy.
My grandmother is at the left.
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Photo was made by Solomon Butcher, who chronicled pioneer life on the prairie.
This image has been published many times over the years.
 
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Here are some of my old family pictures. This first one is of my uncle and my dad, probably taken in early 1913 in Crittenden, Kentucky. My dad was then about 3 years old, and my uncle not yet a year old. My grandmother told me the apprehensive look on my dad's face was because the picture was taken pretty close to the edge of the porch, and he was afraid he might fall off if he moved too far.

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And this one was taken in Phoenix shortly after my mom and dad were married in October, 1936. He was 26 and she was 24.

John

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My great grandfather homesteaded in Custer County, Nebraska.
This is his family at the grave of "Little Willie" who died in infancy.
My grandmother is at the left.
518d486e1f6b5.preview-699.jpg

Photo was made by Solomon Butcher, who chronicled pioneer life on the prairie.
This image has been published many timed over the years.

Wow. I'm very familiar with the work of Solomon Butcher. I've read about everything I can find online about him, and I've pored over his photographs for hours. I've even tried to imitate the look of his photographs by using my own large format camera and antique lenses. The starkness and deceptive simplicity of his photographs are simply stunning to me.

It looks as if the grave is at the bottom of a little hill. And maybe it's in late Fall or early Winter...maybe even early Spring? There are no leaves on the little trees. And there are small evergreens planted on the grave. They look like hemlocks. I have a huge one in my front yard that my dad planted over fifty years ago. Are the trees still there, I wonder? Have you visited the site? Sorry, stuff like this just gets my brain to spinning around, thinking and wondering about things I see in a photo. Is that photograph in your possession? If so, that's great, even if it is a print and not the original.

For any serious photographer, that is a visual treasure to be cherished.
cheers.gif
 
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Wow. I'm very familiar with the work of Solomon Butcher. I've read about everything I can find online about him, and I've pored over his photographs for hours. I've even tried to imitate the look of his photographs by using my own large format camera and antique lenses. The starkness and deceptive simplicity of his photographs are simply stunning to me.

It looks as if the grave is at the bottom of a little hill. And maybe it's in late Fall or early Winter...maybe even early Spring? There are no leaves on the little trees. And there are small evergreens planted on the grave. They look like hemlocks. I have a huge one in my front yard that my dad planted over fifty years ago. Are the trees still there, I wonder? Have you visited the site? Sorry, stuff like this just gets my brain to spinning around, thinking and wondering about things I see in a photo. Is that photograph in your possession? If so, that's great, even if it is a print and not the original.

For any serious photographer, that is a visual treasure to be cherished.
cheers.gif

The original plate is in the State Historical Society collection.
We have prints from it as well as several others he made of the family homestead.
Great granddad, Harvey Brine Andrews, claimed his homestead in Cedar Canyon. So he wasn't a sodbuster, but rather a woodcutter who ran some cattle. Wood was at a premium on the treeless plains so he prospered. He even drove stagecoaches and hauled supplies from Fort Kearny.
He originally lived in a dugout on the canyon's wall.
I remember visiting there as a child, and my sister was there a couple years ago. Pretty rough place and difficult to access, IIRC.
Here are some additional images.
 
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The Randomness of Nature

My dogs and I have been walking in these woods for several years now. There is always something different to see, something new, depending on the season. This photograph was made in Winter.

Winter is always best, because when the leaves are mostly gone, the bare bones of the woods are laid bare. Things are seen that aren't visible in the warmer seasons.

There are deer here. And raccoons, foxes, coyotes, possums are ever present, although seldom seen. Sometimes there are blue herons in the ponds, along with wood ducks and Canada geese.

Our walks are coming to an end for this season, I think. The woods are thick with leaves and brush now, impossible to see far now. Rising temperatures and humidity have awakened all the bugs. We don't like bugs. Saw a huge black snake last week, and I know there are copperheads...just haven't seen one yet. That I know of, that is.

I used the word "randomness". Things look random to us, but I believe Nature has a plan in its way of arranging things.

There's a purpose to it all. I have no need to know what that purpose is, just as long as I know it's there.

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Here we have a northern crested caracara, also known as the Mexican vulture. Seen with a couple black-headed vultures for size comparison. When I was younger we never saw them but they have been moving slowly northward and nowadays we see them within a mile of the house, between Sugar Land and Houston.


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My dad was then about 3 years old, and my uncle not yet a year old. My grandmother told me the apprehensive look on my dad's face was because the picture was taken pretty close to the edge of the porch, and he was afraid he might fall off if he moved too far.

DAD_AND_UNCLE_WALLAGE-EARLY_1913-SMALL_zps5lbj6d4d.jpg


I guess a mother knows her children, but that sure doesn't look like an apprehensive look to me. It looks more like a "You'd-better-not-develop-this-one, buster, -or-you-and-I-are-going-to-have-a-problem." -look.

Andy
 
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I love vintage photographs! Where and when was this made? What a great old photograph. If it was mine, I'd have it matted and framed and hanging on my wall.

The photo would have been taken in the early 1890's in a small town in Eastern Iowa. The hotel site is now a Chevy garage. The wood sidewalks were replaced by concrete sidewalks and curbs in the 1900's. My great-grandfather (a Civil War vet) help put those sidewalks and curbs in by hand. He was in his late 60's then. Finally passed in 1934.
 
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