It's hard to realize that a little over half a century ago, most events, historical or not, were recorded via camera in black and white. Ansel Adams created his prize winning photography in black and white. Some of my husband's favorite souvenirs of days gone by are recorded on black and white. They were tucked away in a cigar box in the attic. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there is a scanner available that allows rejuvenation of old black and white snap shots. One would think that the companies producing these little miracle machines would be eager to market those jewels of modern technology. Not so, my friend, not so. Go to any of the local stores and request a scanner that will allow scanning of 4x8 black and white negatives. Grandmama would say: "Scarcer than hen's teeth". I went in search of that machine around Christmas. It was an exercise in futility. The common but rarely voiced consensus was that such a machine would be too difficult for today's consumer. That no one was eager to learn and therefore marketing that machine was not profitable. I just wonder how many black and white negatives gather dust in people's attic when they could be scanned out and become a fascinating source of personal histories. In my own case the negatives yielded remarkable images. Like most men born during the first half of the century, my husband was drafted and spent a couple of years in the military. He was stationed in Europe shortly after the war. He had a small camera, nothing spectacular. When I first started to scan the negatives I was in for a surprise. My husband traveled the rails as an M.P. What seemed at first glance just countryside, turned out to be part of Hitler's infamous Siegfried Line, better known as the West Wall.
Among those souvenirs were bits and pieces of the Maginot Line, a rather touching ceremony of wreath-laying at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. There were pictures of bombsites with craters deep enough to lose an entire team of horses along with the wagon. And there were pictures of hungry people waiting patiently for the opportunity of receiving just enough food to get through the day. It is easy to forget that at the end of that war to end all wars 57 million people were dead, the entire continent of Europe was in rubbles and life was hard for the survivors. Of course there were other images not nearly as grim, but all of them nonetheless black and white. The grandchildren are fascinated. Imagine Grandpa jumping in to a bomb crater just to take a picture. Imagine Grandpa looking at Paris from the top down, at a panorama of gabled roof tops, Garrett Ateliers of starving artists and other starving people. I think I'll put it to words and pictures for them: When Grandpa Was Drafted---- It may not become a bestseller, but it will show the view of postwar Europe through the eyes of GI Joe. I would prefer for that scanner that gives me those pictures to be less user-friendly. Everything is automatically programmed, from the type of paper to the type of resolution. Every choice is made for you. And while it is implied that high resolution scanning is available, nowhere does it specifically state QUANTA… how much. Just click here for good, or here for better or here for best. It is a foregone conclusion that the business milieu is inclined to believe creative license is no longer fashionable. However: Honorable Grandmama has raised her favorite grandchild to think for herself. I can just hear that grand old dame: WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS ALSO A WAY. And I'm finding all kinds of ways to get around AUTO. And the pictures are great. It's hard to believe that some of them are born of celluloid over half a century old, almost as old as I am, or, shall we say MATURE.