Here's what these guys are gawking at. The steam engine is still there in Chestnut Hill although the MDC has let it deteriorate badly. You can see it is two stories high at this level and extends another level below where the huge flywheels are. The system was still in standby service when we visited, but by 1974 the MDC didn't need it to pump water, so they just let it rust. Now it is being disposed of and a mall or something will go in that building.
Bob; These really are fantastic. So very Gotham City. It is amazing these photos survivied in such good condition. I only hope they do preserve part of these pumps if only the staircase...if they plan to dispose of this I am willing to join some group to preserve them.
ReplyDeleteThe films were in a fairly humid basement at about 60=70 degrees the whole time. I had Rocky Mountain Labs do the processing because they said they were specialists in old film, but they took this E4 slide film (Ektachrome T) and cross processed it as a negative film using C47, then made prints from it. I would have gone elsewhere had I known they were going to do that, because what is left is a poorly color corrected negative. I had to do a lot of restoration.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, that mistake gave them the "Captain Nemo" look. Incredible that they came out at all.
Speaking of stairs, I have shots of other stairs that look like they are out of the Titanic. Maybe I will post them if there is interest.
I guess you were lucky to have them come out at all and the iron looks lush with the highlights. The guys faces looking up in wonderment and awe at the apparatus. It also looks like the stuff from Alien but pre-dates it by a century. Maybe if they had rocessed it in the nornal way the effect wouldn't have been the same. Is it clear enough to blow up to a larger size?
ReplyDeleteYes I can get some more resolution out of it. I uploaded a 1 mb file to the blog so you can click it and enlarge to the point where some grain shows.
ReplyDeleteI have to do a lot of work to these images though some are so eerie and unusual looking that they will be worth it. A new version of Photoshop is probably in order here. If I can find a slide scanner that's not too expensive I will buy it as I have old slides with people in them that might be interesting. Was it Bob Salow (what was his name? not Salow) who took tons of pictures of us in high school. Bet he has them still.
Is that the guy we called C90? Yes post what you can when you can as I am interested at least. Epson makes a reasonably priced scanner with slide scanning function starting at around $99 I think but you probably want to spend a little bit more if you think you will use it a lot in the long run.
ReplyDeleteC90 was Joe Greene. He has a website to advertise his photography business. I'll try to find it.
ReplyDeleteI've been shopping for a scanner all day and I think I want the Nikon scanner. I did see the Epson and it got pretty good reviews, but it has nowhere near the resolution of the Nikon. There are thousands of slides in the closet.
you are right C90 was Joe Greene. I remember he always had a camera with him.
ReplyDeleteGood choice on the scanner.