Tangible History

            As soon as Jenna returned home from school yesterday, Roland and I went to a neighbor's house to pick apples.  Jenna did not wish to go.  Instead, she started on some homework she had.  When I returned, she asked me to help her with a specific topic.  She had been assigned to write about an invention and had picked cameras as her topic.  Oh, yes.  What a great historical item.  

            My first suggestion to her was to make a comment on the straight faces that are seen in so many old photographs.  No one is smiling.  They all look serious.  Cameras seemed to be a lot heavier and bulkier back then.  It would take the photographer a huge amount of time just to set up his equipment and even longer to capture the pose.

            Jenna had taken a journey through camera timeline and did have a paragraph which was overly boring.  Cameras are fun.  The history of cameras is fascinating.  I showed her that she could take notes from a YouTube video if she didn't want to read.  Pep up your paper.  Put some life into it.  Interview Uncle Bill who is a professional photographer.  

            I told her about some of the cameras I had possessed during my lifetime.  And the lawsuit between Polaroid and Kodak and how I had to give up my Colorburst camera and my thinnest camera ever was the Kodak disc.  I told her how many pictures I could expect to get out of one roll of film.  I forgot about the stupid flash attachments that were needed for earlier cameras.  The people of the early 19th century had to wait for long periods of time to capture a moment.  Today we have instantaneous selfies and the capability of sharing them on social media within seconds after they are taken.

            I'm excited to help her with this project.  Of course, I am more excited than she is.  For her, it's work.  For me, it's a new blog subject.  Well, not really.  I have mentioned a few of my cameras in various posts.  My latest arrival came yesterday while I was removing grapes from there stem (we still have one large bucket left) though I did not get many better pictures of our grape transformation as the battery was being charged for a good part of the process.  But now, thanks to Corey, I now have this kind of camera

which came in this really cool drawstring bag.  

 So future posts should have better pictures and not just cell phone fuzz.  Looking forward.

Last Day - With a Rainbow of Promise

(I Thought I Would Need a Sad-Face Icon but Received a Rainbow Instead)

             Thursday was the last day for checking out books.  The library is closed now.  All checked out media is to be returned to the drop box by April 25.

             There was a rumor going around that a film crew would be there interviewing patrons as they have at many other libraries across the nation.  Nobody knew what time.

             Jenna and I left the house just after 12:00 and headed to the library with books and games in hand.  Someone sat at our regular table; she was using the Wi-Fi - I think. The mayor had come with his wife and had taken several pictures before the film crew arrived. 

             As volume in the library seemed to increase, Jenna and I decided to move outside.  The sun was shining in our face as we neared the bench between the parking lot and front door.  I suggested we move across the street from the parking lot and read while sitting on a bench over there.  Quite a gamble as the element switch had been tampered with all day:  pouring rain, no - sun, no - rain, no - sun . . . 

               Jenna saw the camera crew from Serendipity Films pull up and we went back inside.  It was just after 3:00.  Meanwhile, Carisa Cegavske, a reporter from "The News Review" had come to interview the librarian and patrons as well.  She started with our librarian before the film crew was fully set up.  Jenna spotted a man with a glowing blue stick over his belt. 

            "That's a blue mike," she announced.  The technician was quite impressed that she knew that and asked her if she was planning on getting into film.

            Turns out the "mike" he held looked more like a dust mop that had seen its fair share of cleaning. 

             After her conversation with our librarian, Carisa moved on to the mayor's wife.  We were sitting at the table nearby and I could see Jenna's wheels turning.  I literally had to h0ld onto her.  Jenna and I are friends with the mayor and his wife and I was not willing to lose that due to Jenna's silliness and disrespect.

             "Absolutely no photo bombs!"  I loudly whispered.

             The mayor's wife had tons of information.  She has been through this before when Redding closed down its library.  She wasn't going to move to another location unless there was a library.  After she had fulfilled her years being on the library board, I filled out an application and took her place - well sort of.  She's a pro and I'm still trying to get my feet wet.

             I found it amusing that those who were filming decided to incorporate Carisa's interviews into their film.  Perhaps it had been pre-arranged, but it didn't sound like it had.  When Jenna started answering Carisa's questions, the camera immediately turned on us.  Jenna was thrilled.

             It hadn't been my intention to stay at the library all day.  I had to return at 6:00 for the last board meeting - which evidently the film crew knew about and asked to be a part of it - although I had not known that at the time.

            Jenna and I returned to the car.  Just before I was about to pull away, I told Jenna that we had to go back into the library as we had not signed a release form. (I hope Serendipity got a release form from Carisa as well, as I think she was in all the patron shots - or at least her voice was) After we got that taken care of, we returned home to eat.

             The vehicle in which film crew had arrived was still in the parking lot.  Jenna asked if they would be at the meeting too.  I didn't think they would, but they were - along with an additional amount of public which actually doubled our usual attendance.  That was kind of different.

             After the meeting had ended, everyone went outside so the film crew could take one final shot of the librarian closing the doors.  Once we were all outside, we found a rainbow right over the library.  Instead of fading (as rainbows often do) the colors became more vibrant.  It looked to us as though our library was "the pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow.  We all stood outside the parking lot to get pictures.  Unfortunately my camera wasn't able to capture the awe. 

             The Serendipity cameraman was out there filming.  I made a comment that it would make a great ending to their documentary, as for me, the rainbow represented hope.  He then turned the camera on me.  I wasn't expecting that.  I wish I had made the same profound comment.  It was cool to have such an awesome ending to the tears we all felt for that day.

I came home to find Jenna also taking pictures of the rainbow and the sunset - her pictures came out way better than mine

Here is the article found in News Review.