Showing posts with label 1940s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1940s. Show all posts

Friday, August 31, 2012

Full Transparency


Amarillo Texas, March 1943, by Jack Delano


Scores of bloggers out along the web have posted samples from this website, which offers a rare COLOR glimpse of 1940s America. Typically these postings feature low-resolution files, interesting in their novelty, yet not breathtaking. The featured picture seems innocuous enough, but let us SEE! (Click the image above, download it to your disk, zoom into the file, and you get a hideous matrix of inconclusiveness.) 



Example of depreciated consumer value (above)But by conducting a more thorough examination of these priceless 4x5 Reversal transparencies (below), we dig deeper to reveal details hiding among the vast acreage of the large format. Using top-secret image-enhancing software, the technicians at OMR are able to provide you the most for your internet dollar. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

A Texaco station next to a Conoco station. An enticing sign for Chesterfield cigarettes. Another sign reading 'Your first choice' is perhaps an advertisement for a bar of soap? And who's going to clean up that pile of junk over there to the left?





A careful study and comparison of these two details reveals the Amarillo Furniture Company, with its attractive kitchen display in the left window. FASCINATING!


Next to Rudy Bauman's Garage, you can pick up your dry-cleaning while having your Packard serviced. PERFECT!



Compare these two entries. The enhanced image reveals an actual human being!


But he is not the only visible human. Check out the Glen Miller-loving bastard on the terrace!

We hope you've enjoyed our trip to 1946 Amarillo. Join us next time for a look at Detroit, Michigan, 1942.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Locust II



gettin' a bit more of Locust Avenue in these two shots by JOHN VACHON 1940, and by CHARLES CUSHMAN 1958. (clicking on Vachon link will take you to an excellent collection of color slides presented by the Library of Congress, wherein reside hi-resolution jpegs of photos by John Vachon, Jack Delano and others)