Slides, Done

By shendyNo Comments
This photo of the Cathedrale St Nicholas in Nice is the last photo that my dad took on slide film - in September 2007. Fuji Provia - Camera not specified, probably Pentax *ist Over the last few weekends I have been rattling through "scanning" the rest of his slides. I say "scanning" because I've adopted a different approach - up to now I've been using an Epson V700 flatbed scanner and it's done me proud. But recently I've not been completely happy with the results from it on my own photos, so I started to investigate the possibility of using my Fuji digital to photograph slides and negs. I ended up buying a macro lens (a Nikon 55mm f2.8 manual focus) from ebay, a Nikon/Fuji adapter, some extension tubes so I could get close enough for the image on the film to fill the frame, an LED panel, and a copy stand.All set up in the garage, so as to reduce the amount...
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PL Travers

By shendyNo Comments
Completely coincidentally with the release of the new Mary Poppins film, I was sorting through some of my dad's photos over Christmas when I noticed that one the black & white films from October 1955 mentioned PL Travers, author of the Mary Poppins books. And there, towards the end was this one frame... PL Travers, bottom right My aunt confirmed that it is her - the photo was taken at the Symons' house in Gloucester Gate near Regent's Park. The Symons were friends of the family, and I have a vague memory of visiting them there in the 1970s - something to do with being allowed to play underneath a grand piano, or something like that. My cousin apparently met her when he was 6 months old. One thing that occurred to me is that PL Travers probably reduces my Bacon Number quite significantly (see Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon) - me to my dad, to PL Travers, to Walt Disney, to anyone...
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More updates

By shendyNo Comments
I've had a reasonably productive week, and have put a lot of new photos up on the main website: A whole new section containing loads of photos from in and around Northampton, including Borough Shows and Raft Races as well as things like the redevelopment of the Town Centre in the 70s and shots from Abington Park. More photos from my dad's life - very early photos from the 30s, 40s and 50s and some from his working life. Enjoy....
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Some time travel experimentation

By shendyNo Comments
I had an email the other day from a chap called Paul Campbell, who had been looking at the King's Road photos and had bit of a play with Google Street View - and look what he came up with. I've seen this sort of thing done before with things like wartime scenes, but these are really cool. Thank you Paul, and do please let me know if you do any more and I'll happily share them....
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Exhibition

By shendyNo Comments
A few months ago I was contacted by the Proud Gallery in Chelsea to ask if they could use some of my dad's photos in an upcoming exhibition based around Ossie Clark, the 1960's fashion designer. I am very pleased to say that from the 21st February to the 10th March, Proud Chelsea will be hosting "Ossie Clark: The King of the King’s Road Reigns Again", featuring four of my dad's photos. He would have been thrilled / stunned / gobsmacked to know that some of his pictures are being exhibited alongside the likes of Norman Parkinson's, someone whose work he most definitely knew and liked. There's also a bit about it in Time Out. The pictures are being made available to buy in a limited edition of 25 each - these are only available via the gallery....
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A new website

By shendyNo Comments
The sections of this blog with the motorsport, King's Road and Northampton photos are now being moved over to their permanent home at http://john.shendy.co.uk and eventually they will be deleted from here. There's even more motorsport and over time there will be lots more photos of all sorts of things. This blog will continue, where I'll post interesting photos as I find them....
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Black and White – done!

By shendyNo Comments
Feeling a bit emotional... I have actually finished scanning all of the black and white negatives - 20,254 frames from 1954 to 2005, in a process that has taken a few days under 3 years. This is the last image, taken in Lyon in 2005. I'm only actually half way through the entire scanning job, but the rest of it is in colour - negative and slides. Special credit to the Epson V700 scanner which is still going strong, but will now probably fail tomorrow as I've said that. I've had to buy a new negative holder as the existing one is starting to crack, but it's done very well!...
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Lots of visitors

By shendyNo Comments
Just to say hello and thanks to all the visitors over the last week or so - I put Google Analytics on the site and I've noticed that visitors have gone from single-digits per day to 30 or 40, sometimes 50, then 70, and 150 on Sunday! There are several reasons - images appeared in the latest copy of Practical Classics magazine and TR Register (Triumph owners), The Brother posted a link on a site he frequents and there have been a decent number from the Miss Peelpants blog (a lady who runs a vintage clothing store). But a huge number of hits have come from Facebook. Unfortunately I can't tell who has posted on there, but whoever it is has been responsible for nearly 25% of all visits. If it's you, I'd love to know what you've posted and what comments you've got. New scanning is on hold for a bit while I'm busy with work, but I have got some 1974...
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