Black and White #10

That first shot is a scan of a 35mm slide, converted to B&W, and played with in Photoshop Elements 4.0. Train bridge crossing the Ouachita River from Monroe to West Monroe, Louisiana.

The second shot is a straight B&W conversion of a color slide. The train and buildings were in Rockwood, Tennessee where Lovely Wife's grandmother lives.

Train Bridge, Monroe, Louisiana 1983 and 2006

This first one is of what was left of a wooden buildings built into the middle of an old train bridge across the Ouachita River, between Monroe and West Monroe, Louisiana. This is another photo from the same roll of Tri-X black and white film I posted two photos from on yesterday. That ratty looking old building still hanging on there in the middle of the bridge fascinated me. I have no idea what the purpose of such a structure was, above a river and with trains passing beneath it.

When I was last in Monroe, Louisiana, in December 2006, I took more pics of a train going across this same old bridge. The bridge had looked old in 1983, so I was surprised to see trains still crossing it. There's no hint anymore of the old building in the top photo, although this bottom photo shows that same section of the train bridge, only from the other side of it.

Black And White #7

These are a couple of scans of black and white film from a photography course I took in college in the early eighties.

Lovley Wife (Lovely Fiance back then) went along with me as I scurried around Monroe and West Monroe, Louisiana looking for things to photograph.

This first photo was taken in West Monroe on the banks of the Ouachita River. There was this little house or building, that was all decrepit and overgrown. Old buildings such as this are always intriguing to me. It was once a new house or business or something that I'm sure the original owner was excited about and proud of. Click on it to enlarge and tell me what you see in the photo, OK?

This is a wider shot of the same building with the Ouachita River and a bridge in the background, from the same roll of film. (Tri-X)

Pink And Yellow Sunset

These two photos are a couple of my 35mm slide scans from 1983.

The first photo was taken over an across the street neighbor's roof, from the front yard where my then fiance (now wife of 22 years) and her family lived. I cropped this one slightly, because in the original slide, you can see the top of the neighbor's roof, and I cut that out.

Lest you think those colors are unreal or a photoshop trick, I put up the second photo, taken on a different evening in a different location. It has almost the same colors. Same city, Monroe, Louisiana, but the second one is looking over the Ouachita River (pronounced WASH-it-aw), about 6 miles from where the first photo was taken.

Belive me, I'm not that good with photoshop, and I use Photoshop Elements anyway.

On my writing blog today I posted a story of my year as a high school yearbook photographer, along with three photos from that time in my life, if you care to see them and read the story. It's a post that would have fit in well on this blog too.

Ouachita River

Today's photo was taken in 1982. It was taken on the banks of the Ouachita River, from West Monroe, Louisiana, looking at downtown Monroe, Louisiana on the other side. (Ouachita is pronounced WASH-i-taw)

I've had bouts of insomnia most of my life, but once I had my camera, I'd just head out and take night photos. I'd never done it and all of the experimentation paid off.

This is one of my all-time favorite photographs that I have taken. Not spectacular, I know, but it's my home town, and that makes it special to me. Canon AE-1, 50mm lens, Kodachrome 64.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I saved and bought a Canon AE-1 in the summer of 1979. I've taken thousands of slides with that camera. I still have it, and a few years ago I sent it off to be serviced and had new mirror foam and foam seals installed. The mirror has never squeaked on it like some Canons have, this camera has been a champ and has been perfectly dependable.

I knew a guy the first time I went to college in the early eighties at what was then Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana - Monroe) who was a Nikon guy. He was completely insufferable and a total camera snob. He snickered at my AE-1 while holding his Nikon FM, but I think that since my AE-1 still works perfectly after 28 years and working in rain and banging it against things, I think I made a wise purchase.