Oh! The Frustration.
Today I pulled a stack of Magic Lantern Slides from their boxes (where they've gone untouched for, speculatively, 70-80 years or more, that is, until I acquired them last year).
Literally not having seen the light of day for all of that time -- let alone that of the Magic Lantern kerosene-flame by which they were projected upon screen or wall -- in terms of cataloging , I found the 800-1000 or so of them, to be as follows:
1) Best Case Scenario -- Captioned and Numbered
2) Next Best-Case Scenario -- Captioned but Not Numbered
3) Bad-Case Scenario -- Numbered but NOT Captioned
4) Worst-Case Scenario -- No Caption, No Number
Today's stack = Scenario 3).
Oh! The Frustration.
Here's the frustration in perspective; if I see a bird, an insect, a tree, a flower, a cloud formation, a rock or mineral, a geological strata, a wild mushroom, a fish, any plant or animal, etc. that I cannot recognize by name -- I must get to, ASAP, a field guide, encyclopedia or Internet Search Engine or some other reference AND LEARN THE NAME, ID, etc. !
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of names/ID's I do not know (more than I do know; take for example a million or so species of insects -- not counting the ones yet to be discovered and named).
Within the Scenario 3) stack today, is a Scenario 4) slide -- just one thankfully, and I can probably ascribe a caption and key words to the scanned file. It's this one
"Man and Burro, Mexico, c. 1915"
Who's gonna' argue with that? No one probably.
Still, if any of you can add or correct my caption, by all means.
But all the other 3)s and 4)s I know are sitting in their wooden boxes Oh! The frustration.
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Labor of Love with a downside or two.
True, it could be anywhere from the Southwestern US down into South America, or even Spain or Greece. That would depend on where the people who took the shots are known to have traveled. At best, the location would be a guess. That is a good call on the burro, though. We're your search engine for the historical stuff, Mac. One or more of us is bound to come up with some information about it, and have a load of fun doing it.
I know the photographer and family were in San Diego and Mexico in 1915, that based on other slides that are both dated and captioned. So, for my dreaded category 4), this one at least is relatively "easy".
Wait until I post some other 4)s!
Or Italian? I would guess they would have donkeys there, too... Fascinating!
Nevermind, just read your last post. Mexico/southern CA, it is! What about the Baja region or in California? The buildings in the background look more American to me than adobe... Looking at the shape of the mountains, they aren't jagged, but more worn into rounded shapes, so that may help place them. I've never been to southern CA, maybe someone else has.
From the looks of the bags they appear to hold produce of some type, this could be a man getting ready to go to market or even just arriving home. Just a guess.
Palm trees in the photo, just above the mans arm is a tower of some sort, with more buildings beyond that. He is not dressed in local Mexican wear, but this could well be Southern California. It looks like it lies in a bay. Both San Diego and LA are built with in a bay.
Here's a possibility; the California/Panama Canal Exposition of 1915 in SD Balboa Park had, among many others, a Mexico Exhibition.
...
It could be that. There are a couple dozen slides from there -- and most are captioned.
Mac,
Can you find anything in the scenery of the other slides that matches or resembles the background in this one?
I will go back through all the 1915 Exposition restorations eventually. In the time it might take to figure this one's ID, I could likely finish and post a number of others. Once I go through every slide, I'll go back and revue all that defied description.
I'm sorry I wasn't more help. I just don't know what the mountains near San Diego look like.
I think you did to Egilman! But are you sure it's not Italy?
After all, there's that tower!
The picture looks like the camera is south of the man and the mule, but we really don't know that. It all depends on what time of the year it is and what time of the day it is according to the shadows. The tower could actually be just about any direction from the "Man and the Mule". I don't think that is the California Tower in Balboa. I've been to San Diego Zoo a long time ago, but I just don't recall hills or mountains like the ones in that picture, but I may be wrong. I looked at Google Earth and really don't see any of any significance either. The one clue that is most significant to me is the fact you know the photographer and his family were in that area based on other dated pictures. This doesn't necessarily mean he was from that area or this picture was taken there. The Tower appears on Google to be much farther inland than that tower does to me. And if you weren't in the ocean you could only see it from all those hill or mountains behind it and in that case you could see everything. Of course things may have been greener back then before the the river was siphoned off by the population growth. Based on your clue, I would imagine somewhere around there, but without the clue it could be the Mediterranean. After all Italy was known for making those caps.
Sixpick,
I appreciate the time and effort you took (and that of everyone else who helps me ID the 3)s and 4)s).
Thanks, my friend.
A Mac, you know you are welcome. I'm not finished. I did a lot more research than I typed in. I may be wrong nearly every time, but if I find out something that is right, then I will be a little closer to the facts.
I look at it like learning a song on the guitar. I practice for a day and it doesn't sound nearly as bad as it did when I started. I practice for a week and it is starting to sound halfway decent. I practice for a month and I think I have it down. I practice for two months and realize how bad it sounded last month. LOL But the next song is easier to learn.
Although I see hills/mountains in this photo from wiki.
Sixpick,
I've seen the guide book and although the mountain range is geologically similar to that in my photograph, the tower's architecture seems more layered and ornate than the one in my image. But I'm not ruling it out.
Again, your effort is truly appreciated.
Wait until you see some of the real mystery images!
Thanks for your effort and the well-reasoned attempt to ID or, at least eliminate a possible ID for the tower. And again, I have some other "4)s" that are wonderful imagery but which may go forever unidentified. That to me is a kind of tragedy albeit relatively inconsequential in the perspective of reality.
Thanks my friend,
More 4)s soon. possibly later today.
Egilman,
It might be, as Six said, the coastline of Italy or Greece. Although I haven't seen anything from this family in those two countries, I do know that they were taking pictures in Germany just after 1900, because I've ID'd some of them. Anywhere else in Europe is always a possibility. Also, I know, from identifying a picture there, that they were in the Bahamas around 1900, so it might be there too.
We can be reasonably certain that it was not the coastline of Northern Mexico. In the 1915 period, Northern Mexico was a war zone and neither the Carranza government nor the Villastas would be likely to welcome US tourists to the area. Even if they would be allowed in, it's unlikely that the family would go there under those conditions.
I've looked at least once through every slide and can't say I've seen one of Italy; it's possible but Germany is the most frequent of European countries, with France, Portugal, some Caribbean, many 1904 and 1915 World Fairs, NJ seashore, Philadelphia, and other assorted.
This could be San Pedro Ca. A fishing village built on the bay just west of LA. It was populated by Italians and Yugoslavs. There was a Catholic Church on the hill, where they had the blessing of the fleet every year, that had a tower. The clothing the guy is wearing would fit perfect in San Pedro.
I have to do try to find more photos of San Pedro in that time period. This is getting good.
How about this, A.Mac. The shadows are behind the objects. Considering that the equator is south of Mexico, that would indicate to me that if that is an ocean, it must be the Pacific. So at least we could guess that the photo was taken on the West coast of Mexico.
Buzz,
Based on the many photos of the 1915 California Exposition, I know that the image was taken in San Diego or somewhere in that part of the country. One slide shows two girls wearing sombreros and atop of burros and has a caption "In Mexico". What it doesn't indicate is whether it's actually in Mexico or, in the Mexico exhibit at the Exposition.