New Website and Blog!

I have a new photography and blog website at http://janesampsonphotography.com.  I will no longer be posting to this blog.

Thanks to all who visited this blog and I hope you visit my new place at the link above.

Empress of France 1956

I finally received the photos that my sister sent to me that include some photographs taken of the Empress of France ship as well as some photos of passengers on the ship. The original blog where I posted the ship's log can be seen here.

Here is the Empress of France docked in Liverpool (I believe, it could possibly be in the port in Montreal, Canada).

Empress of France, 1956

There is also a newpaper article posted on the blog (see link above) that describes the European trip made by my grandmother as an educational trip. My grandmother was a retired teacher at the time of the trip. 

My grandmother was friends some other people that also toured Europe.  I don't know their names, but as soon as I receive the original slides, I believe their names are written on the slides. I will post that when I receive it from my sister.

Passengers and travel companions of my grandmother

There was another photograph of ship passengers.  I'm not positive this is from the Empress of France, but it was in the same bunch with the rest, so I'm assuming it is.

Passengers on the ship's deck

You can see my website at Jane Sampson Photography and more experimental photos on my flickr Photostream. 

Thanks for checking out my blog.







Edinburgh, Scotland, from Castle in 1956

More fun with another old photo from my Grandma Morty's trip to Europe in 1956.  I didn't know where this photo was taken and it was only by zooming in on the sign on the building was I able to come up with some clues while searching on the Internet.  The sign appears to read "Royal Kottish Academy" and by searching that phrase, I was able to find that there is a Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I happened to find a photo on flickr from the same vantage point. It was posted by the Library of Congress, titled Edinburgh from castle, Scotland.

Here is the original image from my grandmother's slide.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1956

I loved the image so much that I wanted to try restoring it.  Below is my first attempt at restoration. Unfortunately, there was so much dirt on the image that I wasn't able to restore the colors very well.

So in my spare time, I plan on trying to create a painted version of the image in Photoshop CS5 using the new bristle brushes and mixer brush.

Restored Version of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1956

Don't be surprised if you see this image in one of my 365 Project composites on flickr in the future.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

You can see my work on my website at Jane Sampson Photography and some other experimental work on my flickr Photostream.

Day 132/365 - Grandma Morty's 1956 European Vacation

Today's post is very sentimental.  My sister Jill is very much into ancestry and today she sent me some photos from slides that my grandmother had in her things. Some were from a European vacation she took in 1956.  One of them is this photo of some Dutch people taken in Holland.

Photo from 1956 European Vacation

I found a newspaper archived article from a local Albuquerque newspaper from May 1956 that mentions my grandmother's trip to Europe. Here is a scan of the newspaper page.  I will post the text of the article following.  My grandmother's name is Evangeline B. Mortimore.  I got my middle name from her (Evangeline).

Newspaper article: Albuquerque Journal, May 9, 1956

Here is the text from the article:

_______________________

To Tour European Countries

A group of 29 New Mexicans joined by serveral persons from Canada, South Dakota and California will leave the United States the latter part of May on a 60-day Education Assn. of New Mexico travel study tour.

Headed by Dr. F. M. Kercheville, who is arranging the tour with Bowman Travel Agency, Albuquerueans will include Mrs. Kercheville, Miss Francina Kercheville, their daughter, Miss Georgia Benkais, Dr. and Mrs. J. Lopez Garduno, Mrs. Evangeline Mortimore, Miss Katherine Martin, Miss Ann Ellen Lee, Mrs. Lulu Relick, Mr. and Mrs. Simon Deshcler, Mr. and Mrs. George Dawson, Miss Vivian Vacquier, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Smith, Mrs. and Mrs. Fred Kloubec, Mrs. Lena Rudolph.

Other New Mexicans making the May 29-July 27 trip will be Mrs. Lillian M. Siemantel, Mrs. John E. Tadlock, Mrs. J. J. Albright, Mrs. Roy Smith, all of Clovis: Mrs. and Mrs. Lewis Critenden, Miss Normal Miller, Mrs. W. I. Martin, Las Cruces, and Hoy Chaddick, Nara Visa.

Albuquerqueans on the tour will be enterained at an informal cruise party at 3 p.m. Sunday to be given by Mr. and Mrs. V. W. Bowman at Hogan's.

The tour is designed to study languages, manners and customs of our overseas friends in 10 countries and two principalities according to Dr. Kercheville.  The countries to be visited include Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain.

The group will sailing from Montreal, Canada, May 29, on the Empress of France and will land in Liverpool, England.  

 _________________________

My sister also sent me the page of the ship's log that shows my grandmother, Evangeline B. Mortimore, passenger number 674.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to find the newpaper article that makes a bit of a story of these photos and the ship's log.  So I decided I would do a little Photoshop magic for my Grandma Morty (who passed away in 1993) and put myself in the photo of the Dutch people holding a sign in the photo she took in 1956 (a year before I was born).

Message from Me in the Year 2012 to to Grandma Morty in the Year 1956

Here's the original photo of me from 2012 that I put into my grandmother's photo:

Me in 2012

Thanks for reading my blog.

You can see more of my work in my flicker Photostream and my website Jane Sampson Photography.

Jane Evangeline Mortimore Sampson

Day 130 Image and Techniques for Generating Ideas

I watched an episode on phlearn.com the other day on How to Come Up with Great Ideas and Make Them Happen and have tried it a few times.  I've come up with some good ideas, but they are too elaborate for 365 Project.  So tonight I sat down and drew the following sketch following Aaron Nace's instructions in this Phlearn episode.

The black lines are the original scribbles.  The red lines are emphasizing images that I saw in my scribbles. My sketching sucks, but you can probably see a person-like thing holding a wine glass and another person-like thing holding a bottle of wine. So I came up with this idea to have me looking so innocently at the wine-owner (also me) accusing me of drinking his/her wine.

So, although it's not the greatest photo in the world and some people may not even get it (it's hard to see the wine stained lips, wine stained sketch book, and wine glass stem hiding behind the monitors), I find it amazing that I was able to come up with this idea just from scribbling on a blank page in Photoshop. 

Here is the final image titled "Day 130/365 What Makes You Think It Was Me?"

 What makes you think it was me?

Please visit my flickr photostream and my website at Jane Sampson Photography. 

Making of Day 119 Ethereal Evening

This image is made up of two photos and LOTS of Photoshop processing. You can see them below.  I orignally was going to put a person in this image, but thought i was good just as it is.

Ethereal Evening

Here are the images that were included in this final image.

Moon

Parking Lot

Making Day 16/365 Caught in the Rain

This image is a composite of three different photographs and also has quite a bit of Photoshop processing to make the falling rain and rain dripping from the umbrella and bouncing on top of the umbrella.

Caught in the Rain

Here are the three original images as well as the lighting set up for the girl (me) with umbrella.  The first image is  of me in studio with torn umbrella.  Basically I just jumped in the shower with my clothes on and the umbrella and then ran dripping into the studio for the shot.

Me with umbrella

Dark Clouds Background

Fisheye Wall Background

The following photo shows the lighting setup.  The flash on the floor is a bare SB-700 set to 1/2 power. The flash in the silver umbrella is an SB-900 set to 1/3.2 power.

Lighting Setup

Thanks for checking out my blog. You can see other experimental images on my flickr photostream.