Friday, March 11, 2011

Goodbye to Kodak Kodakchrome slide film


This blog has been underperforming for a while, because I've been running low on general interest photos from my collection taken with my Olympus IS-3. The Sam's Club I go to no longer sells or develops camera film. The Costco doesn't sell it anymore, but it does still develop it. Also, I mostly only take family pictures anymore, don't have the time or money to spend on a photography hobby anymore. I suppose someday I'll make the jump to digital photography, but who knows when. I don't even use the camera on my cellphone.

I never really used slide film very much, but I do possess a box of Kodak slides from my father, taken from the early 50s to the early 60s, one of which is above. They are clearer and crisper than many of the print pictures our family has from the 70s. (I shudder to think where all our digital pictures will be in sixty years' time.) It's been said that the better recording technology becomes, the worse music gets. Maybe its also true that the better imaging technology becomes, the shorter the image's life expectancy is. Thing is, I don't believe digital imaging is as good as film imaging, not yet at least.

Oh well, sic transit gloria mundi.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Farewell to my late mother-in-law





She outlived her cancer prognosis by nearly a year. She was never in serious pain. She was well-cared for by her loving children, and more than a thousand people came to her visitation and funeral. Meanwhile I, stuck here half a world away, can only post a few pics, and hope that they along with these bald words will communicate the love & appreciation I had for her. I like to think that she was rather fond of her giant, horse-faced American son-in-law, too. RIP, Omoni...

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Newfound Gap, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Gatlinburg TN




From the family trove of Kodak slides. My father on his honeymoon. The punch-holes are from the original slide processing. Click on the image, both to enjoy what a rustically handsome fellow he was, and to dig all the now-classic cars.

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Saturday, September 05, 2009

Korea Trip 2009

On the observation roof at Imjingak, at the border with North Korea.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Korea Trip, 2009

Jeju Island, Seogwipo shore, down the stairs from the beach condo we stayed at. Note the creek flowing into the ocean.


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Korea Trip, 2009

Jeju Island, Seogwipo shore. Taken during a very hazy summer day.


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Friday, August 07, 2009

Korea Trip, 2009

Seoul, folk village. This woman and these musicians were re-enacting a traditional funeral chant. We were in the area for a good forty-five minutes, and she didn't let up once. I went in the little courtyard to watch a couple of times, but the view was blocked by the video crew. These were the only decent shots I got.


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Korea Trip, 2009

Seoul, Myeongdong shopping district. I felt like a giraffe among a herd of gazelles, in this crowd of Koreans (though note the lone American in the foreground, there). And, although I did see poverty in Korea, it was here that I saw the only beggars I encountered during the trip. The folks in the caution vests are street preachers.




Korea Trip, 2009

Seoul, Lotte World amusement park. There was this very interesting folk museum upstairs. Here are the kids using oldtimey laundry paddles, and listening to a narration from a mannequin.


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Korea Trip, 2009

Seoul, Lotte World Amusement park. Yes, those are Korean performers dressed like Scottish Highlanders, playing bagpipes. There were lots of foreign dancers representing different areas of the world; I'm sorry I didn't get a few snaps of them.

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Korea Trip 2009

Lotte World indoor amusement park. This place was huge, and indoors! The photos were shot from the balloon ride, which circles the perimeter up near the ceiling.


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Korea Trip 2009

These are views of the northeast corner of Seoul, with the Han River in the foreground, taken from our room in the Sheraton Walker Hill hotel. It was very hazy--I don't know how much of that was due to the rainy season, and how much to pollution. I was told that it's much clearer in autumn.


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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Korea Trip 2009

To the north of Seoul is this curious place, Imjingak. It's on the border with North Korea. It looked like a Korean rest stop, with bus parking, convenience stores, snack bars, but also with monuments, reflecting pools, even a little amusement park. The pool is in the shape of unified Korea. The landscape shot shows the rail line going over the river into North Korea. The wrecked train engine is from the early days of the war.

There were fences with ribbons and banners, wishing peace and unity to the Korean people. And over the border I could hear automatic weapons shooting, as the Norks were having a live-fire exercise.



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Korea Trip 2009

The harbor city of Mokpo; scenes of the harbor and of a garden on the grounds of a museum. The rock formation is locally famous because it looks like a man wearing a traditional Korean hat, from some angles.





Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Korea trip 2009

Jeju Island, Seogwipo shore



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Yudalsan Sculpture Garden, Mokpo, South Korea

I was here last in 1997, and this time was surprised to see that all the sculpture was new. They must rotate the pieces, to keep the park fresh.



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Korea trip 2009

Suncheon, Songgwang-sa Temple



Suncheon, Songgwang-sa Temple detail

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Korea Trip 2009

Seoul, on the grounds of a historical palace.



Seoul, in front of a historical palace. Sorry, but I'm too lazy to look up the names of the different palaces we went to.

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Charleston SC, 2008


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Charleston SC, 2008


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Charleston SC, 2008


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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Charleston, SC 2008


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Charleston, SC 2008


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Charleston, SC 2008


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Charleston SC, 2008


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