Archive for the ‘photograph’ Tag

Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)   2 comments

 

Shenandoah NP 50Eastern Screech Owls (Megascops asio) are the smallest resident birds of prey in Shenandoah National Park, weighing only about 5-8 oz. (that’s a couple of candy bars). They are active all winter, leaving their cozy tree-cavity nests at night in search of food. In winter, there is usually an abundance of mice and shrews, but other mainstay dinner items are hiding out until spring: frogs, salamanders, small snakes, lizards, moths, caterpillars and other insects. Wiley Screech Owls have been observed on frosty autumn mornings walking around farm fields, picking off inert grasshoppers like grapes. Posted by the US Department of the Interior on Tumblr, 2/9/14.

Just Sayin’   1 comment

Albert Einstein, on his 72nd birthday. Photo by Arthur Sasse, March 14, 1951, (AFP - Getty Images)

Albert Einstein, on his 72nd birthday. This photo was a favorite of Einstein’s; he sent copies to his friends! Photo by Arthur Sasse, March 14, 1951, (AFP – Getty Images)

The Boston Channel reported that “the only known signed copy of the photograph went up for auction and sold for nearly $75,000 in June, 2009″.

Payton, June 22, 2013

Payton, June 22, 2013

Happy to make a deal on any autographed photos you might need. You’ll have to wait until she can properly hold a pen, though.

Posted June 29, 2013 by henrymowry in Photography

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Another Aunt, Another Bad Lawn   2 comments

Morgan Family Home

Here we have a picture of another part of my family, and another rather interesting lawn.  The photo is circa 1905, taken near Graham, MO.

The matriarch of the family, front and center, is Lucy Farrow Morgan, who would be my Great Great Great Aunt, AKA Great Great Grandaunt.

Also identified is the man sitting on the left, her son-in-law Philip Daise.  I’ll assume that he’s using the lawn ornament as a hat rack, though I have no idea what that is or how it’s working.  His wife, Mary Alma Morgan Daise, is sitting center left.

And this lovely family doesn’t seem to care that their “lawn” is rather tall.  Perhaps my ancestors are trying to tell me something….

Morgan Family Yard, Up Close

Minneapolis-Moline Tractor   3 comments

George Price with his Minneapolis-Moline tractor, 1964

George Price with his Minneapolis-Moline tractor, 1964

Posted December 23, 2012 by henrymowry in Photography

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The Contraption   3 comments

In all of the photos I've collected in my genealogical travels, this one is the strangest.  John Mowry and Isaac Bond are the names of the builders ... but what is it?  Where is it? Why is it?

In all of the photos I’ve collected in my genealogical travels, this one is the strangest. John Mowry and Isaac Bond are the names of the builders … but what is it? Where is it? Why is it?

Posted December 22, 2012 by henrymowry in Genealogy, Photography

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Juggling 13,831 Files   3 comments

I just checked: my genealogy folder has 13,831 files in it.  Most of these are photo scans, but some are also document scans, the page layouts and .pdf files for the family photo scrapbooks that I’ve compiled and even audio files.  By the time I’m done with the Hepler book later this month, I’ll have 14,000 genealogy files.

And those match the 33,624 names in my family tree file.  Well, some of them, anyway.

Label your photos -- with a proper pen that with ink that will dry on photo paper -- or your backup band may never be identified.

Label your photos — with a proper pen that has ink that will dry on photo paper — or your backup band may never be identified.

And then there are the 35,415 photographic files that are everything from work photos to vacation snaps to family shots to … well, my photographic life.  My photographic files go back to 2004, when we said good bye to film.  And don’t get me started on the 3-ring binders of prints & even slides that need scanning.  Velda already has that on my worklist.

So you see the problem, right?  Thousands and thousands of files, and you need to know where they all are.  And this is the story of how I failed.

I was working on the Chucalo family photo scrapbook.  Velda and I had flown back to St Louis several times, visiting cousins and scanning photos with multiple families.  On a good day, I was gathering 100+ files.  Do that for several days in a row … and you don’t know which file is which if you aren’t careful.  We had files that were named, files that were unnamed, file folders crammed with original photographs, photo prints, obituaries, random notes, plane tickets and rental car agreements.  It was chaos.

If photos have names written on the back, you can scan that photoback directly to both save the best record of the photo, and move on quickly to other scans.

If photos have names written on the back, you can scan that photo back directly to both save the best record of the photo, and move on quickly to other scans.  Just make sure you name the photo back scan the same as the photo front!

And we work for a living.  Velda and I were doing these trips on vacations.  We would fly back home — tired from our vacation — and go right back to work.  Work being what it is, I was behind, and couldn’t devote much time to the photo processing for some time … when I would have to decipher all of those cryptic handwritten notes.

Which I always did perfectly, of course.

After I had processed the photographs, composed the scrapbook pages and updated the family tree files, I created rough draft .pdfs that I then sent back to the relatives for approval.  This was essential; it was my proofing double check. But come to find out, this only works when you know which file you’re sending.

I was paranoid about losing data, so I was constantly making backups.  I had the work files on my laptop’s desktop.  I would then copy them  every few hours to the “real” folder location on the c:/ drive, and then duplicate them onto a portable hard drive at that same time.  And that worked great, until I didn’t copy the right file to the right back-up.

I had gotten an edit to the page for one of my favorite cousin’s pages.  I had gotten his name wrong:  Robert Eugene instead of Robert Gene.  It was an understandable mistake, perhaps:  Robert Eugene is my father’s name.  In any event, I had it wrong, got the correction, fixed the page, then copied the wrong file into the backup, and never caught the mistake.  I published the book with the wrong name for my cousin.  The wrong name.  How do you fix that?

Seriously, how?

Learn from my mistake:

1. Have one location for work files.

2. Have one location for backups. (And ALWAYS keep a backup.)

3. Don’t mix them up.

4. Have a method for checking important edits.  Keep a file of requested edits, and then check them to make sure they’re done.  And then check them again.

It's only when your pictures are properly labeled that your descendants can be sure which picture is of you.

It’s only when your pictures are properly labeled that your descendants can be sure which picture is of you.

Family Photo Scrapbooks   8 comments

I’m nearing the end.  I started working on the Hepler family photo scrapbook in March 2011, and it will be finished in the next few weeks.  The book has grown to just over 200 pages of photos, history and genealogy information.  This book is focused on the family of Harry Baptiste Hepler: his 6 children, his 25 grandchildren, and their descendants.

I enjoy putting together the covers of the book.  For this family history (and it’s the 4th that I’ve compiled), I assembled 2 covers.  The first one is focused on the first couple of generations, and the 2nd cover is focused on the younger generations.

In the case of this branch of the family, no one member will know everyone pictured.  Reacting to that fact became one of my goals: to illustrate the breadth of the family immediately.  An essential  third page is a key to the photographs, so that the family can begin to associate names with faces!

More:

Creating a Family Photo Scrapbook

Digitizing Family Photos

Treasuring Family Photos

Your Family Tree

Posted November 29, 2012 by henrymowry in Genealogy, Photography

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UCLA v. Stanford at the Rose Bowl   Leave a comment

One annoying thing about going to the Rose Bowl is they do not allow DSLRs into the public area.  I guess they’re afraid that you might take some really good pictures?

In any event, I was limited to my old point and shoot, so I did my best.

The Bruins weren’t up to the task either, unfortunately, falling 35-17.  This was just table setting for the finale, however.  The Bruins have a chance for immediate revenge on Friday, when they will again play Stanford, but this time for the Pac-12 Championship.  Friday’s game will be in Palo Alto.

Vasquez Rocks in the Rain   Leave a comment

When the rain made the surface of the rocks reflective, the blue sky provided a blue sheen to the rocks.

Posted November 18, 2012 by henrymowry in California, Photography

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Wand Buckwheat   Leave a comment

A Wand Buckwheat bush against one of the many sandstone rocks in Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Los Angeles County, CA.

 

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