Several times over the last month I had walked past The Continental Gallery at 4th and Spring and stopped to check out the fascinating series of architecture detail images of local buildings on display. The black n white prints had the certain darkroom quality.

Last night I went out for an early dinner break. While walking around Spring and 4th, I found the door to the The Continental Gallery was actually open.

Well I really lucked out, Tom Zimmerman, the photographer was there, and yes the images were all shot on film and prints made in the darkroom!.

The month long exhibit was the celebration the publication of “Downtown in Detail,” a book of photographs by Tom Zimmerman. Publication party was on May 14, from 5-9 p.m. Of course I walked in on the last night of the exhibit.

Zimmerman, who admits to having to learn photoshop to produce his book, still is a rare bird is this digital era. He shoots film and still uses a darkroom. We talked about view cameras, Freestyle Photo Supply in Hollywood, and his thirty years of high-school teaching.

Tom Zimmerman Photography Web Site

When I left, I remembered how much I missed the smell of Rapid Fix in the morning! Who needs coffee - one whiff and you are wide awake.


Tom Zimmerman with his showing at The Continental Gallery on Saturday.

Last week I got carried away one evening and exposed two roles of 36 exposure film with Los Angeles City Hall as the subject. With the Oktomat camera's eight images per frame its 8 times 2 times 36 for 576 images of city hall. Anyway I used 20 frames to make this image, A large version is posted here at flickr.

Thank god for a cheap service at labs these days - only cost three bucks per role to get scanned onto cds.

This morning I was able to attend the 2009 Memorial Day Service at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks - Griffin Memorial Park in Westlake Village. Great program and over 2,000 in attendance. Of course I shot photos - lots of salutes, flags, music and remembering those who gave their lives for the United States.

Two vets I was able to spend a little time with were 1st. Lt. Randy Kramer of Encino and Sgt. Donald L. Montgomery of Thousand Oaks.

Kramer served three years in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Italy during World War 2. His original uniform was in perfect condition, except he admitted to having to let it out a little after 60 years. Kramer, a former pilot, had flown with the Van Nuys based Condor Squadron for years, but now is not flying. He was excited to see his buddies in the Condor Squadron do a fly-by half-way through the program.

Montgomery said he served in Korea and China being too young for World War 2. But that didn't stop him from lying about his age and joining the Marines when 16. The Marines must have kept him as he rose to the rank of Sgt. and was loaded down with medals - more than most officers were able to gather.

The program was great. Now I am looking forward to seeing the Traveling Vietnam Wall scheduled to be at Pierce Brothers over Labor Day weekend.

But what really made my day is the photo above. After the big Memorial Day program, I stopped at Beyer Park in Thousand Oaks and checked out the World War 2 memorial. Someone had quietly left a flag and flowers in memory to the five Thousand Oaks residents who lost their lives in World War 2. A special thank-you to who ever cared enough to remember. ( See my blog from Saturday.)

Happy Memorial Day

Scott

Scott Kelby recently announced his second annual worldwide photo walk on July 18th, 2009. I had a blast last summer hanging out with a group of Thousand Oaks based photographers at the photo walk. Worldwide Photo-Walk Link.

Last year about 8000 photographers in 236 cities worldwide shot over a million images.

Well this year looks like the photo walk will be bigger and better. While I have already signed up, I am keeping my options open.

One option I would love is a moon walk. Hey - its been done - check out the photos from Neil Armstrong's photo walk on July 20th, 1969.


Full frame image of Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr., assembling seismic equipment with the Lunar Module in background. Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA/The Apollo Project

First stop is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum web site exhibit on Apollo 11 camera gear. Apollo Camera. Those big air-tight gloves make using a point-n-shoot tough.

Neil Armstrong was the official photographer for Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Yes he had a few other chores, but he was issued the important camera for the landing. It was a slightly modified commercial Hasselblad Super-wide Angle camera with only one film magazine. Those large gloves made changing film magazines kind of hard.

Al least the magazine contained about 150 exposures of a special thin-based 70mm film. Armstrong had enough film to document his two and half hour moon photo walk.

To deal with the harsh lighting conditions, Neil was also issued a Minolta one degree Space Meter light-meter. It was specially designed with large knobs and handgrip - again because of those darn large gloves.

For backup coverage of Neil's photo walk, the Lunar Lander was equipped with two additional cameras. First was a modified 16mm movie camera that shot time lapse one frame per second images of Neil and Buzz Aldrin's activities on the moon.

The second was a special black and white video camera that broadcast live video back to earth. But this backup failed - the original magnetic tapes of the video have gone missing - that was a previous post on this blog.

But the Hasselblad worked perfectly. To check out Neil's entire shoot, go over to the online Apollo Image Gallery page.

Located here are scans of all 129 images shot the first lunar photo-walk. The scans were done in 2004 from the original role of film shot by Neil and Aldrin. Yes while Neil shot the vast majority of frames, the camera was handed off to Aldrin at least once. Thus the irony - while Neil was the first man on the moon, there are very few images of him actually on the moon. He was usually the guy behind the camera - just like many tourists.

So Kelby, don't you have twenty-five billion dollars laying around and some 10,000 aerospace engineers working for you? Let's have a lunar photo walk! I am ready to signup.


Two views of Neil Armstrong on the moon. Above he is reflected in visor of 'Buzz' Aldrin. Below, Armstrong is next to the Lunar Module in frame taken by Aldrin. NASA/The Apollo Project

On Memorial Day we will remember all those who gave their lives in service to the United States. On Monday, there will be a big ceremony at Valley Oaks-Griffin Memorial Park in Westlake Village. starting at 10:30 am with music, speeches and an aircraft flyby.

I attended last year's program and was both saddened to see the memorial for Lance Cpl. Anthony c. Melia, killed in Iraq in January, 2007, but also gladdened to meet sailor Allan Jones, E5, who had recently returned from Iraq.

Since last year, we lost a third Thousand Oaks military member Navy Lt. Francis L. Toner IV, killed in March, 2009, in Afghanistan. Toner was a football star at Westlake High School.

But Memorial Day is to honor all those who gave their lives in all wars. Hidden and forgotten is a Thousand Oaks Memorial to five soldiers who gave their lives in World War 2. Next to Conejo Elementary School is a pocket size park named after community activist John Beyer. Inside Beyer Park is a small memorial - that resembles a bar-b-q - with the names of those five soldiers.



The tiny 1951 memorial to World War 2 soldiers in Beyer Park in Thousand Oaks.



In the 1940s, I believe Thousand Oak's population was about 1500. Everyone must have known the five soldiers who gave their lives. The 1960 census of Thousand Oaks had a population of 2934, 1970 census had 35, 935. The World War 2 memorial was original placed in 1951 by Thousand Oaks Chamber of Commerce.

Here is my incomplete list of Thousand Oaks residents killed in previous wars:

Listed on the Beyer Park Memorial for World War 2 are:

Cleon Biddle - Air Force

John Hays - Army

Roy Spain - Army

Harold Wienke - Army

Richard Wienkler - Army

Vietnam Link to National Archives Database

Charles Ivan DeGraw - Army 1968

David Earl Farr - Army 1970

Eric James Hubberth - Air Force 1970

Colin Frank Jackson - Marine 1967

Larry Allan Jones - Marine 1968

John Clarence Shamel Marine 1967

There were no listings for Thousand Oaks in the Korean War in the same National Archives Database

For Iraq/Afghanistan

Sean M. Corlew - Air Force 2002 Newbury Park High School Graduate

Anthony C. Melia - Marine 2007 Thousand Oaks High School Graduate

Francis L. Toner IV - Navy 2009 Westlake High School Graduate

The links are to the Los Angeles Times California War Dead Database

Directions to heaven for former Mayor Tom Bradley.

Jack, above, visiting the new LAPD Administration Building in downtown Los Angeles with reflection of City Hall. Below, Jack enjoying the light show at the Cal Trans Building in LA.

I am now a Pro - according to Flickr. All I had to do was upload 200 images into my account and pay 24.95 per year.

My promotion to the professional ranks came last weekend. As I uploaded a few photos up popped a message that I needed a pro account - or else. The "or else" was that after 200 images, additional photos would bump out others. Only 200 images could be viewed at a time - unless I joined the pro ranks.

Gee, after 33 years of working full-time in newspaper photo departments I thought I was already a pro. But hey, for less than twenty-five bucks I could could get Flickr to say I was a pro. So I signed up. Cheap recognition.

So now I am officially a Flickr pro.

Do I get an official Flickr Pro certificate to frame and hang on my wall?

My photostream link

A couple recent downtown Los Angeles images.

In yesterday's post I missed this link to photos of tapes similar to the missing Apollo 11 tapes. During the last 40 years the federal government has managed to lose the original copies of the Apollo 11 slow-scan TV signal tapes.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has released images showing what the missing Apollo 11 slow-scan TV signal tapes would look like. The tapes are stored in plain old boxes, five tapes to a box, with labels similar to the one showing in these photos.

From NASA press release: "The tapes we are seeking are a special size and shape, which is larger than most magnetic tapes used by the industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The dimension of the large tape boxes are 14.75 inches by 11.75 inches by 2 inches. Each tape weights about 15 pounds and is 14 inches in diameter and 2 inches high."

Link to NASA press release with these images.

July 20th is the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. But unlike most other 20th Century highlights, the only visual evidence was on poor quality 10 frame-per-second black and white video.

There are lots of copies, but the original video is missing. At least NASA is up front about it Link. NASA is asking anyone who might have information, especially retired employees, to help.

Link to wikipedia article



This is a still frame from a copy of the television broadcast of the landing. Yes a better quality version would be greatly appreciated. Copies of the video are all over the NASA web site, YouTube and other sites.

Similar tapes with still images were highlighted in a recent Los Angeles Times story. Link . Tapes containing images from the mid-1960s Lunar Orbiter program were reprocessed and new, higher quality originals obtained.

NASA hopes to do similar video recovery with the original tapes of the Apollo 11 landing.

Nixon was President in 1969. Did NASA ask him about the missing tapes?

NASA 40th Anniversary Page

Tonight's walk was over to the Ronald Reagan State Office building in downtown Los Angeles. Sure enough, a boring photo of the entrance sign made a good candidate for the new Topaz Simplify version 2.0 upgrade. Wood Carving is one of two new presets in the upgrade and was applied to this image.



Topaz Simplify is a free upgrade for existing users. It's faster, automatically makes previews of all presets and includes two new presets: wood carving and underpainting. Check out their web site Topaz Simplify.


The new Topaz Simplify includes previews on left of all presets.

This morning I came across a story in Cal Poly Magazine on a blog by photojournalist David Middlecamp.

By Matt Lazier

Photographer David Middlecamp (JOUR ’85) walked into one of his newspaper’s storage closets to find an old picture and had an epiphany when he saw the dozens of yellow boxes of negatives – images of county news stretching back more than five decades.

“It seemed like such a waste,” he said. “These were people’s careers just sitting on the shelves, not being used.”

There were stories in those old boxes, he thought – history lessons about San Luis Obispo County’s past that could also give readers perspective on the present.

So to help people remember the past, Middlecamp looked to the future. On Nov. 13, 2007, he launched a thrice-weekly blog, “Photos from the Vault” on SanLuisObispo.com, the Web site of his longtime paper, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo.

READ ON:

Newspapers everywhere should be doing similar blogs. Its not only cheap to recycle historical material online, but more importantly it tells readers this is the local online news source you can trust. This background material becomes a competitive advantage against new local online sites.

For example, recent posts on Photos From The Vault, included material on the impact of the 1918 Spanish Flu Influenza on Central California. This was of course tied to the recent Swine Flu outbreak.

David Middlecamp is a 1985 Journalism graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His blog has links to other newspapers doing historical blogs, like The Daily Mirror at the Los Angeles Times. But this list is very short.

Now talk about shameless plugs. First I am a 1975 Journalism graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. And secondly I work at the Los Angeles Times.

Recently this joke was sent to me:

The Tomato Garden

An old Italian woman lived alone in New Jersey. She wanted to plant her annual tomato garden,
but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

Her only son, Vincent, who used to help her, was in prison. The old woman wrote a letter to her
son and described her predicament:

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year.
I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.
I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, MaMa

A few days later she received a letter from her son:

Dear Mom,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area
without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old woman and left.

That same day the old woman received another letter from his son:

Dear Mom,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do
under the circumstances.
Love you, Vinnie

While the original joke was about an old man, I changed it to a good Mothers Day joke.

My wife loves gardening and we always have flowers growing - and in the spring Tomato plants. So today we spent a couple hours getting the garden ready for planting. I am also posting some recent photos of her flowers run through Topaz Simplify. Enjoy.

Here is a photo gallery of some Conejo Valley Days images of mine from the last 25 years. Its not a complete album, but its what I have cataloged into my Lightroom photo library so far. Enjoy.



The images from year 2000 parade were a real eye opener to the early days of digital. I shot them on a Kodak DCS-3 digital camera that by 2000 was already several years old. It was a one megapixel camera that was hand made and originally cost about $25,000. It was big, clunky, and the images were - let's just say a real challenge to color correct. The highlights were usually heavily magenta and skin tones very red. Time to write some really good per-channel curves. I had fun with the images.

Man, the quality of digital images had come a long way.