[Leica] archival

["Dale R. Reed" <dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net>]

I bought me a PEAK 4X LUPE and a little battery operated CABIN LIGHT
PANEL to look at my 40 year old Antarctic slides.  Works great and when
I find a particularly interesting slide I can carry it over to show Katy
in her rocker near the wood burning insert.  

And just like someone said, the Kodachrome Transparencies processed by
Kodak are just beautiful.  Very bright, well focused, colors look
realistic as well as I can remember.  Sea ice, penguins, seals, dogs,
birds, barrier snow, people and their colorful parka's and blue sky and
clouds.  Snow different colors depending on the position of the sun,
etc.

But unfortunately I did not know any better and I shot too many rolls of
ANSCOCHROME Processed by Bri-Tone. These are all faded.  What would of
been beautiful and interesting shots of the Emperor Penguin rookery at
Halley Bay are all washed out.  

But this is not all because of age.  As I remember these slides were
never all that good.  I figured that this film was damaged crossing the
equator in my footlocker that was located in my cabin in the Navy cargo
ship sailing from Norfolk to Dakar to Capetown to the ice. I assume that
the film got way too warm.  But the Kodachrome and the Anscochrome were
all stored together.

I guess I was lucky that I came home with any decent photographs at
all.  My Retina IIIc was delivered from a New York City discount house a
few days before I left Boulder, Colorado for the trip south.  I had
never shot a color slide before in my life and did not see any of the
developed results until I returned home 14 months later.    

All I did was follow the instructions in the small pamphlet that came
with the camera not allowing for any exposure effects of the bright sun
on the snow etc.  No tripod, no incident meter readings, maybe a little
bit of help from the Navy photographer, I forget.       Dale
- -- 
$  dale-reed@worldnet.att.net   Seattle, Washington U.S.A.  $