About vieilles_annonces / Simply A Girl From Midwestern US of A  

Magazine Scans...

Part of these scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external terabyte hard drive (well, all right, two drives since I'm somewhat anal about backups). I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.

I have no political agenda. I am simply displaying a "slice" of the Social History of people of color in the 20th century as recorded by popular periodicals. You might notice many of the women shown are "lighter than a paper bag." As the fifties wore on that "interesting" trend started to change and all hues started to be depicted. As they say, history "is what it is." That fact, and some rather strange articles that must be seen to be believed, is what I wish to share.
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Nostalgic Slides...

My other scans of nostalgic images from the 40s to 80s are from various estate and eBay sales as well as thrift shops. I like rescuing old slides from the dustbins through my meager attempts with Photoshop. I've never seen a kodachrome or ektachrome or off brand slide I didn't like (no matter how moldy, dusty, water damaged or sun drenched). This started as an attempt to decompress from a slightly hectic career (exciting but hectic). My efforts have evolved into... well, I don't know... I'm figuring that out now.

People have asked what equipment I use to scan. Well, I started off with Epson 49--, 70 or 80, but I don't really remember. It had a 35mm slide tray and that's why I thought this machine would do the trick. Well, it took at least 7 minutes for a 3000 dpi scan and I had over a thousand slides to scan. So, my next attempt was the Artixscan by Microtek (not the $1800.00 model sold now but the one for $500.00 sold in 2006). It was all right, but I only had one slide tray for 4 slides and it was slow as well - well, faster than the Epson. Then I bit the bullet and bought a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 AND the automatic slide feeder. That was $1300 including tax. Whew, I must adore my hobbies. Anyway, it was a good investment as I scanned over 2000 just with that machine (it scans 50-60 an hour using ICE and other restorative software). However, every 4th slide got caught in the auto slide feeder which is a problem that's been documented. So, while it was faster, the machine needed to be watched. I settled for using the Plustek high end machine with a slide tray for 4 slides. The upside is every slide is good - no "do overs." Also, the Plustek will give you resolution up to 7200 dpi!

My trick is to scan the slides as is (after dusting and cleaning) then I process with Photoshop. I don't use Digital ICE or any other software in the scanner because I would rather spend the time with Photoshop than waiting on the slides to scan. Also, I have learned over time that cleaning the slides is the real key to wonderful color.

I am always on the Hunt for more slides - especially of People of color. One of these days I will branch out into photographs. I suppose this is a real obsession now. I am still learning Photoshop so I scan any slides (for others) so I can practice.

Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!

Enjoy!

- Hey, Email me, with your thoughts or questions! Because of my job, I'm always online.

I'm Female and Single.

Midwest, USA