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November 30, 2001
Putting yourself in the heritage picture
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The current gift-giving season is an opportunity to enhance your family
history or learn more about your heritage through pictures. Last
week I talked about books and in past articles I've mentioned the importance
of scrap booking and diaries. Today I want to talk about how current technology
advances the production of easier high quality photographic records.
Compact Cameras
I have a couple of good cameras and have taken many pictures over the years.
Last Christmas I received one of those new compact cameras that fit into
your hand and use Advantrix film that you simply pop into the camera. They
are reasonably priced and you don't have to be a technician to use it.
No threading of the film is necessary and the film automatically advances
and rewinds. It also has a built in flash and automatic focus.
The Advantrix film produces three sizes of photos depending on your needs
and you get a contact sheet showing all of your shots, for future reference.
I carry this camera in my pocket regularly and take shots as I see them.
Several have appeared in this column, including the one of the North Bay
Museum last week.
I haven't had any experience with the new digital cameras that connect
with your computer and allow you to print out instant photos on your printer.
My daughter has one, and has produced some remarkable pictures, which she
sends by e-mail to anyone with a computer, where it can be printed out
if desired.
Regular photographs can be scanned and sent by computer as well.
Most of the photos in this column have been scanned at home and sent as
an email attachment via the Internet to Community Voices. The North Bay
Museum has a unique service where you can look at hundreds of photos of
North Bay and print any out (for a small fee) that you may want for your
family history or any other use. There are thousands of photos available
on numerous archival sites.
Camcorders
With an interest in heritage videos, my son and I recently purchased a
digital camcorder to make some heritage videos. We also purchased
the necessary video-editing package (Media Studio ULEAD) to link the camera
to the computer, and some additional memory for the hard drive. We
had the opportunity to produce a one-hour video on a family's history,
including the family's business, and did all of the editing on the computer.
Still photos were recorded and added, as was narration and music.
It cost only a fraction of our video "Logging by Rail in Algonquin Park,"
which we made in 1997 in a studio. We are currently well into plans
for videos on Kiosk and Brent, using old film footage transferred to video,
still photos, and new interviews with people who lived there.
Heritage Videos
My son has researched the availability of old film on video on logging
and other heritage topics oif interest, and has made them available, in
the "General Store" on our website at www.pastforward.ca/store,
or toll free by phone at 1-877-325-6125. Some of the more popular
videos from those available are:
"Blind River"-an hour of colour film from the 1940s showing horse and
truck logging, with great views of the "crazy wheel" in action. The
river drive, with its pointer boats, shows the old logging days in vivid
detail.
"Winter Camp"-was filmed at the logging camp museum at the Marten River
Provincial Park, and uses actors and old film footage to produce an interesting
film on life in an old logging camp.
"Temiscaming, Quebec"-this two-part National Film Board video shows
the struggle of the workers to take over ownership of the CIP pulp mill
when it closed down in 1972, and the struggle to establish a new corporate
structure that represented the interests of the workers. I will do
a column on this important piece of history in the new year.
Several interesting U.S. videos are also available, including:
"From Stump to Ship" which depicts logging in New England in the 1930s.
IT has great footage of the cutting, hauling and river drive in the crosscut
saw and horse logging era, much as it was in Ontario at the time.
Other U.S. films include "Lumberjack Sky Pilot" "King Spruce" "Timber Crop"
and "So You Want to be a Woodsman"
Our video, "Logging by Rail in Algonquin Park," is available in various
local outlooks as well as by mail on our web site mentioned above.
Make preserving your heritage one of your New Year's resolutions!
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