If We Could Send a Man to the Moon, Why Couldn't We Fake It?

When I was younger, I can't tell you the number of times someone started a gripe with the words, "If we could send a man to the moon, why can't we (insert gripe here)..."

I haven't heard that saying for quite some time now, but a few years ago, there were a few people who began claiming that we never even went to the Moon, but rather our government faked the whole thing to freak out the Russians with our superior technology.

I'm not going to repeat the claims of the "Moon Landing Hoaxers" or the hoax debunkers here, you can do a quick search and see what they're saying, but a friend sent me a link to this creative video where a photographic expert explores the issue from a unique perspective.  His basic premise is, we probably had the technology to go to the moon in 1969, but we certainly didn't have the technology to fake it.

Anyway, it's worth a watch.  I certainly enjoyed it.

Howard Fasnacht and Erwin Frantz

Today I'm highlighting a photograph of Howard Fasnacht and Erwin Frantz (based on the names written on the back).  This photo was in the collection of my great-grandmother Jessie Burrows and was I believe a picture of two of her friends from back in Kansas.  Neither of these two men were originally from Kansas, but their families must have somehow wound up there and I would guess that these two were in Jessie's circle of friends from college.

Fasnacht is a name I recognize as my grandmother's cousin latter married Howard's son, Kenneth Fasnacht.  I don't know what ever became of Erwin Frantz.

One old family story I always found interesting was that Jessie's father, Charles Burrows, was the Chief of Police in Wichita.  One day, there was a baby girl left at the railway station with no identification other than a handkerchief embroidered with the letter H tucked next to the baby.  After the parents could not be located, Charles Burrows took her home and one of Jessie's married sisters, Maud Roton, took her home to care for the baby.  Although newspaper ads were run and messages were sent to towns along the rail line, the parents were never located, so after several months, Maud decided to adopt the girl and give her the name Helen because of the handkerchief.  Helen would eventually be the one who married Kenneth Fasnacht, the son of the man in the photo.  I've always been curious about this story.

Anyway, as I have no connection to this photograph, if there are any descendants of either of these two men who would like the image, just send me an e-mail and I'll mail it to you.

Pricey Photo

With graduation so near, one of my students yesterday was asking about various career possibilities when she brought up the idea of photography.  I gave her some general pointers about how to develop a career plan, but also informed her that due to the weak economy and the increasing availability of good cameras and editing equipment, the photography market is somewhat down in our area.  She then asked, what about selling photographs, "what's the most a photograph has ever sold for?"

That I did not know, so I looked it up and was surprised by the answer I found.  The most expensive photograph ever sold at auction was one titled Rhein II by Andreas Gursky.  Not only was I surprised by how much the photograph fetched, but I was surprised by how bland the image was.

Rhein II by Andreas Gursky

Obviously it is a photo of the Rhine River in Germany, but there are a few more surprising things about the picture.  Gursky photoshopped it to remove the industrial skyline from the background and a dog walker in the foreground.

So, what was the selling price of this photograph?  On November 8, 2011, it sold for $4,300,000!

Not only that, but I was surprised to see that six of the top eight priciest photographs sold since the recession began.  You can see the Wikipedia list HERE.

A Photographic Leap into the Past

Time is a strange and fascinating thing – perhaps it's one of the reasons I like history so much.  I remember when I was in England pondering the worn stairs in the Wells Cathedral and thinking about the many people who had traveled the steps since 1306.

Stairs in the Wells Cathedral

I was checking out the news on the BBC website the other day, when they showed a series of retrophotographs from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.  Retrophotoraphy is the art of taking a modern image at the same location as a historic photograph and displaying or blending the two together.  You can click on the link above, but I'll display a couple of the most powerful ones here also. Oh, and all the photos look better when you click on them and view them larger.

These photos reminded me of some other excellent retrophotography by Sergey Larenkov.  He has done some excellent work based on World War II photographs.  I particularly like the way Larenkov blends the images together.  I'll highlight some of my favorites on the blog today, but you'll want to check out his website for more!  It makes me want to head on down to my local historical society and find some old photos.

The amazing retrophotographs of Sergey Larenkov:

German Parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, 1940 and 2010

Hitler at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, 1940 and 2010

D-Day on Omaha Beach, 1944 and 2010

National Hotel in Moscow, 1941 and 2010

Peterhof Grand Palace in St. Petersburg, 1941 and 2011

German Prisoners in St. Petersburg, 1944 and 2010

Tigrgarten Park in Berlin, 1945 and 2010

Unknown Tintype 4

Today's image is the last of the four unknown tintypes I found in my late Uncle Jim's photo collection.  The previous ones being found HERE, HERE, and HERE.  I still believe they are family, but I'm unsure who they may be.

Unknown Tintype 3

Today's image is the third of four unknown tintypes.  The previous ones being found HERE and HERE.  I haven't given up trying to identify the people from these images yet, but it sure makes me reflect upon how I've labeled my own photos for future generations.

Unknown Tintype 2

Thank you all for your input on the previous unknown tintype.  This is the kind of mystery that I find so fascinating when going through old photos – how to recognize people from the past whom you've never seen and do not know?  When my uncle Jim died, pretty much every family photo he possessed came my way.  I'm just now starting to sort through the box of family photos he owned.  There were actually a few tintypes, all about the same size, right together, which has lead me to believe that they may have come from the same family.  Unfortunately, I immediately recognized none of them.  I can with confidence say they didn't come from my grandfather's side of the family since he left home young and didn't even have a picture of his own parents.  I can also say they aren't my grandmother's maternal side as I already have other photos and it doesn't look like any of them, so I'm pretty sure these photos are from my grandmother's paternal side.  The question is where do these people fit?  Here's another of the tintypes.

Part of my problem is that tintypes were in use for such a long period of time here in the United States (approximately the middle 1850s to about 1900).  I have a few guesses as to who these people are, but I think my best guess right now is that the older one is Adella or a close relative.  That would make the two in this photo some combination of Alice Livonia Benton (1871-1896), Delia F. Benton (1878-abt 1900), or Nellie May Benton (1886-1931).  The trouble is that they may be cousins or some such thing and then this whole scenario is off a bit.  I wish I was better and identifying fashions in time.  I can give a general range, but what do you think of the two in this picture.  If someone is an expert at guessing time based on dress, I'd appreciate your guess.

Adella Mariah Fowler

This is a photo of my Great-great-grandmother Adella Mariah Fowler.  She was born in Livonia, New York, in 1845.  She married my Great-great-grandfather William R. Benton in 1866, after he returned from the Civil War.  In 1871, they started a homestead near Blaine, Kansas, where they raised six children:  Allie, Frank, Flora, Delia, Will, and Nellie.  Eventually, William's failing health (on account of disease from the war) caused them to sell their farm and take up residence in Oakland, Kansas (a suburb of Topeka).  William died in 1894, but the now widowed Della, continued to raise her children until a trip to care for her flu-stricken in-laws in Cummings, Kansas.  It was here that she contracted and succumbed to the illness herself while caring for others.  She died in 1899, leaving the youngest two children, Will and Nellie, to be raised by her sisters in Wichita.

I only have two known photos of Della.  This one that was taken when she was young but married and another one which I had previously posted here.  What do you think, is this the same woman in the photo from yesterday?

Not only on this blog, but also on my Facebook account, linked to this blog, people commented that I should run these images through some photo recognition software.  Unfortunately, the two known photos of Della are taken straight on and the one I don't know from yesterday has her heard turned to the side.  Additionally, other identifying features, like her ears, are pretty hard to determine from the two known photos.  She parts her hair in the center, but many women at this time did.

I'd welcome your opinions if anyone has them.

Unknown Tintype

Today, I'm featuring a tintype I found in a pile of family photos my Uncle Jim had when he died.  I do not have a positive identification on her yet, but I think she may be Della Mariah Fowler Benton (1845-1899), my great-great-grandmother.  If it is her, it would be the first older photo I've seen of her.  She died in 1899 of the flu, contracted when she went to care for the family of her sister-in-law near Cummings, Kansas.

Landscape Photography of Kim Keever

I enjoy seeing good landscape photography, so when a friend recently sent me some photographs of Kim Keever's work, I was a little stunned.  In many ways they looked more like paintings than photographs.  But perhaps even more curious is to realize that there is no digital manipulation of these photographs.  I was amazed.

So how does Keever achieve these stunning colors and beautiful atmospheric conditions without Photoshop?

Well basically, he creates miniature landscape scenes in a 200-gallon tank in his studio in New York City.  Keever illuminates his tank with colored lights and fills the aquarium with water.  To create the atmospheric effect, he adds paint and then swirls it around to achieve the cloud-like scenery as he photographs the quickly changing environment.

If you'd like to see more, check out more of his work at this gallery HERE.

Felix Nadar

Congratulations to Rob from Amersfoort who recognized yesterday's Person-of-Mystery as Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (better known by the pseudonym Félix Nadar or just Nadar) even if Rob was too modest to actually say who it was.  My guess is that Brian was also able to crack the cipher as he seems so good at those.  And thanks to Ray in UK who finally entered a correct guess.

Felix Nadar

As a history teacher, there are many people from the past I wish I could somehow have back for an afternoon to accompany me for a stroll or with whom I could sit down and have a good chat.  Nadar is certainly one of those people.  Born in Paris, France, in 1820, Nadar began his career as an writer, illustrator, and caricaturist for Le Charivari, a satirical newspaper.

A Nadar Caricaturization of Jacques Offenbach

It was through his work as a caricaturist that Nadar developed his artistic eye for portraits.  He was already well known for his illustrations when he took to the new medium of photography, opening his first studio in 1854.

Nadar's Studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris

It was said by one contemporary that "all the outstanding figures of his era – literary, artistic, dramatic, political, intellectual – have filed through his studio."  Nadar is said to have had a friendly and outgoing personality and was good friends with many of his portrait subjects.

Illustration by Nadar showing all the influential people who he had sketched during his newspaper days

Nadar was artistic, immensely imaginative, and possessed a flair for the dramatic.  His photographic portraits became known not just for the quality of his work, but for bringing out the character of the subject as well.  Nadar also used his creative talent to push the boundaries of early photography.  His curiosity led him to be one of the first to attempt aerial photography from a balloon and he was the first to photograph the Paris catacombs using artificial light.

Nadar self-portrait in the Paris Catacombs photographed using artificial light

Nadar self-portrait in a balloon basket

Nadar's earliest surviving aerial photograph of Paris

As Nadar kept pushing the bounds of photography, he began dreaming of new ways to expand his abilities to take aerial photography.  In 1863, he built a giant balloon with an enormous gondola.  Dubbed "Le Géant" (or "The Giant"), the wicker gondola had a circumference of well over 300 feet (100 meters) and was about 15 feet tall.  It included six rooms with four beds, restroom facilities, a balcony, and a lithograph press and darkroom to create prints that could be dropped to the earth – all without the inconvenience of having to land.  The gondola also allowed for wheels to be attached, so that after landing it could be pulled by horses.  By way of comparison, Nadar's 1863 Giant was a little larger in volume than today's Goodyear blimps.

"Le Géant" in Brussels, 1864

Crowds thronged to see Nadar's balloon, so much so that when Nadar visited Brussels, he became the first person to employ crowd control barriers (still called Nadar Barriers in Belgium).

Illustration of Nadar's balloon in flight

Sadly, Nadar's balloon crashed in Hanover on its second voyage and afterwards went on display at the Crystal Palace in London.

Illustration of the crash of Le Géant in Hanover

Recovered gondola after the crash

Although, Nadar's balloon did not survive for long, it made quite an impression on his friend Jules Verne, who used Le Géant as the inspiration for the novel Five Weeks in a Balloon.  Nadar also serves as the inspiration for the character Michael Ardan in Verne's From the Earth to the Moon.

Michael Ardan in From the Earth to the Moon

Not only did Nadar have friends in the literary community, but Nadar was friends with nearly all the new French Impressionists.  When the Adadémie des Beaux-Arts refused to display at the Salon the works of many of his friends (e.g., Cézanne, Degas, Guillaumin, Monet, Pissarro, etc.), Nadar, in 1874, allowed them to use his studio for an alternate exhibition of the first public display of impressionistic painters.

Coquelicots; environs d'Argenteuil by Monet,

One of the rejected works on display at the 1874 exhibition in Nadar's studio

In 1886, Nadar published the first photographic interview with the centenarian French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul, with Felix Nadar conducting the interview and Paul Nadar, his son, taking the photographs.

Nadar interviewing Chevreul, 1886

Nadar died in 1910, but his work serves as inspiration for photographers today.

More of Nadar's photographs follow below:

The Apostle Preacher Jean Journet

Gustave Doré

Sarah Bernardt

Terror

Alexandre Dumas

Victor Hugo on his Deathbed

Aimé Millet

Paul Legrand as Pierrot

Profile of a Young Woman

Madame Lefranc and Paul Nadar

Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri

Peter Kropotkin

Le Bris with his Albatros II

Aerial Views of Paris

Workers in the Catacombs

360° Self-Portrait taken on a revolving chair

Self-Portrait