ClicksyPicsWiggle animations and anything old timey!

This is the animation that crashed on me Sunday.  He could be Brad Pitt’s grandfather.  Below is a bigger view.  View the original at the loc website here.  I will have this print up for sale in the next few days at deviantart.com.

1863 - Falmouth, Virginia. A muss at headquarters, Army of the Potomac.

I absolutely fell in love with this image when I found it.  It’s so rare to see such a candid and funny shot from this era.  When I got to working on it, I realized this image had something that no other image I have yet to find has, motion.  At first I thought it was warping, and it was a bit warped, but the movement you see is actually the movement of the soldiers.  The first image was taken, then the angled image was taken a split second later, with artistic and skilled timing.  In each side, the men move ever so slightly, blurring some areas and creating motion in the image.  I do hope to find more of these, it’s a wonderful effect and impressively creative stereoscopic photography.

What I never figured out is why in the world that guy on the right is digging a hole.

View the original image here.

Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe was appointed Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps in 1861 by Abe Lincoln.  The year after the above photo was taken, Thaddeus resigned because of disputes over his operations and pay.

Following his stint in the war, he spent time on his inventions, creating an ice making machine and a water gas process which produced hydrogen gas from charcoal and steam.  His patents and inventions made him a millionaire.  In 1887 he moved to L.A. building a 24,000 square foot mansion, and opening several ice making plants and even a bank.  In 1891 he opened a railroad company which was initially successful but became costly and he lost the company.  He died at 81 having lost his fortunes, living in his daughter’s home in Pasadena.  Click to read more about him at wikipedia.

Download the original stereo card at the LOC website here.

“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”

-Frederick Douglass

Of all of the images I’ve seen on the LoC website, this has been by far the most striking. If my guess is right, this man is a Corporal in the Union army. Perhaps guarding this building, or just resting with a book. This was taken when the Union General Sherman was in Atlanta, after forcing the Confederacy away from the munitions center. He allowed his men to rest and recover in Atlanta for a couple of months before moving on, during which time a photographer documented the scene (unfortunately most of his images were destroyed in a fire). Most people don’t realize how many black soldiers there were on the Union side. According to the National Archives, “By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy.” Find more about participation of blacks at the National Archives here. This image was badly warped, and isn’t a particularly striking animation.  I think the image stands very well on it’s own.

View the original image from the Library of Congress here.