or, for our Western audience, Hi Honey, I’ll be home for Christmas…just not this Christmas.
Today’s Kodachrome slide entry was taken in war torn Korea around Christmas of 1952. The subject is a Korean Radio Tech making a call on a Voice Terminal Bay at a Chonan (later spelled Cheonon) repeater station; I actually don’t know what he’s saying here, …
There's fresh snow, so fire up your snowmobile, grab a film camera, and let's hit the trails! Not in Tucson though, darn it.
I'm still waiting for good sunny weather so I can shoot some test images with the Sony FE 24-70/2.8 GM lens. Hopefully I should have something out in a couple of days. In the mean time, I thought I'd post another Kodak moment picture; this time it's an Ektachrome slide from about 1979/80.
The subject is me, and a 1974 Raider Eagle Snowmobile. The Raider was unique in that it had twin tracks, a rear mounted engine, and padded cockpit seating; more pictures or Raiders here. Our Raider had a 440 CCW engine, electric start with a tachometer and speedometer. When the engine was tuned up properly, and on hard packed snow, It would do about 70 MPH (113kph). Some people worried about what would happen if you rolled it over being seating inside the vehicle and not really able to jump out quickly; I did that one time, and it wasn't actually a bad experience. A strong neck and the knit cap was good enough as I slid along, upside down and into a snow bank.
The Raider was a fun ride, but it had a lot of problems, mainly due to it being a low production, short run vehicle, and as a result, they never really had the time or resources to get the bugs worked out. My Grandfather bought this brand new Raider at an auction for almost nothing; they were going out of business; and shortly after that, my Dad talked my grandfather out of it, and we ended up owning it for about 5 years. I remember my last Raider ride, I think it was early winter in 1981 after a big snow, the first ride of the new season. I decided to 'drag race' my buddy in his 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport on the street in front of our house, and as I hit about 6000 RPM on the tach, the chain came apart and flew through the fiberglas body right beside me. We ended up dragging it home behind his car, and putting it in the garage. Unfortunately, that was the last ride for me; Dad ended up fixing it and sold it shortly after.
Interesting side notes; notice the black padded 'seat' on the rear engine cover, you could carry a passenger here, where they would hang on for dear life using the little plastic hand strap just in front of the seat. Check out my orange Michigan 'safe snowmobiler' patch on my right shoulder, and the 'Coors' beer knit cap which was a typical 'helmet' back then. There's nothing like beer and snowmobiling when you're 15 years old! Also notice the hardware store 'photojottings' stickers on the side...
My Dad took this Kodachrome slide of Ray Farhner's 1932 Ford Roadster pickup 'Eclipse' probably in 1960 or 1961 in Detroit. I'm not sure what the show was called by it could be either 'NHRA' 1960, or maybe 'National Champion Custom Car Show' in 1961. Farhner went on to produce more custom cars, including a hotrod 1850s funeral coach called the Boothill Express!
This little pickup won many awards, (Grand Sweepstakes winner in NHRA 1960), and was featured in all the major car magazines of the day, including Hotrod, Car Craft, Custom Rodder and a plethora of others. It's now a legendary custom Rod that has been restored, more info here.
Notice the mirror positioned on a slant under the car showing the undercarriage; the October 1960 Car Craft magazine, (with the car on the cover); the Cadillac 'teeth' on the front grill, and the hood with a body-color spot light just visible at the bottom edge. I like the pose of the couple on the left, I think it makes the image more interesting.
The photo was taken by my dad with an Aires 35 IIIL rangefinder camera (which I still have), 45mm at F/1.9, maybe 1/15s. The image is...
Here’s a two-shot film panorama I took years ago showing a stone wall from the lower level of a home, extending to the adjoining property as a retaining wall. I thought the use of materials and design were pretty cool, that’s why I took the snaps. This is another Charlevoix Michigan neighborhood scene, more from this …
Here’s another addition to our “Kodak” moments portfolio; brought to you by Kodak Gold color negative film from the early 2000s. For the second time the subject is a home in Charlevoix Michigan, (first time here); It’s special in that it was made in a quirky way. Earl Young, a Realtor who enjoyed photography and architecture, designed …
In this third installment of a 'Kodak moment', we'll take a trip back to West Berlin, pre unification Germany, in the summer of 1986.
For this installment of the Kodak moment we travel back in time to war torn Korea; near the village of Chonan; ca. 1952. The four subjects are the children of Korean radio techs that man part of the Chonan (now spelled Cheonon) repeater station. This station was reportedly built by the Japanese during the 1930s or 1940s; and was located …
