Sunday, October 28, 2007

photo fare

i've lately had a thing for very old photographs. i came across this collection of photographs. i think it may have something to do with all of the books i'm reading right now by this guy. maybe not all the books by him, but especially these three. the books are almost perfectly written and coincided nicely with my discovery of these photographs.

there is nothing more american than photographs of the western usa during the 19th century. the photographic processes they used were tedious and required much time of both the photographer and the subject. all involved were serious about preserving memories. the camera, however, was not as commonplace as it is today, and represented something new and advanced. these cameras and processes created more beautiful documents than can any modern-day megapixel or software-advanced photoshop.

i found the above collection of photographs made by george edward anderson, a photographer based out of spanish fork and springville. i found many scanned negatives of my direct ancestors, as you can see below. at christmas time, anyone who is in utah should plan on a trip to the library with me to find the hard copies of these photos. then we can go to the d.i. and shop for cameras. and after that, we can maybe go to chuck-a-rama, another thing that represents the essence of america.


this picture is of my great great grandfather's family. he has a goatee. and he has a wooden leg, but you can't see it here.


this is thomas david and priscilla merriman evans. They are my great great grandparents on my mom's side.


this is my great aunt, maggie evans.


The old guy is david thomas davis, my great great grandpa. he went to wales with thomas david evans (see above) on a mission for the mormons.


This is spanish fork at a 24th of july parade.


this is a house called the peter frandsen house.