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Post by Jas. Watson on Nov 14, 2006 9:27:47 GMT -6
I voted for Tom & Libby, only because it said 'it had crossed my mind'...but if that were so, I firmly believe it would have been a one way thing. Libby could never get over GAC to even think of anyone else. The rest of her life shows this.
Jas~
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Post by Tricia on Nov 16, 2006 12:04:49 GMT -6
As for looking like Death Awakened, maybe the brothers Custer are still recovering from New Year's?Good God the man was 26 when the photo was taken.Someone should do some research on how army rations speeds up the ageing process or was Libbie very demanding? Perhaps ... but GAC did have this awful habit of not sleeping (especially when on the move in the war), though he could--with the best of them--when so motivated. In one letter from New York, he commented to Libbie that he'd not slept one wink in his bed at the hotel and thought the Irish maid--upon her arrival to tidy up in the morning--would think it quite scandalous. I think I'll let that pass without further comment. But you might be on to something. Hard tack must have been hard on the body as well as the teeth!
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 16, 2006 12:08:30 GMT -6
Maybe it has to do with the photography process at the time. I know it was much longer than our aim-and-point-and-click cameras today.
I believe people had to sit still for a long time . . . kinda hard to look very happy that long.
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Post by Tricia on Nov 16, 2006 13:05:44 GMT -6
Funny, Libbie almost always did.
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Post by harpskiddie on Nov 16, 2006 14:08:59 GMT -6
Nowadays, we ask people to smile, or say cheese, or sex, or whatever, so that modern photos tend to feature smiling people. Also a lot of our photos are candids, which were next to impossible to achieve in the 1860-70s. I don't remember seeing many smiling faces in photos from back then.
I always think of Connell's comment about a photo of Benteen - he had the flat cold eyes of a killer. If one peruses many pictures of that era, one comes to realize that nearly EVERYBODY had the flat cold eyes of a killer, and a rather inanimate quality about them.
Gordie
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Post by Jas. Watson on Nov 16, 2006 15:35:27 GMT -6
I have had my photograph taken with 19th century cameras on several occasions. Besides the long exposure time the big thing is that there is only natural lighting--usually only from above. That is the kind of lighting (from above) that makes one look their worst.
I am no spring chicken by a long shot, but in my 'antique' photos I have the tiredest baggy eyes you ever saw...it worried me last time I had 'a likeness taken'--I couldn't believe I look THAT terrible, so later I played around with a lamp in front of a mirror and sho nuff I could recreate that 'look' with bad oblique lighting--ugh!
Later on photograph artists discovered those big reflector screens that bounced skylight or outdoor sunlight back up into the subject's face thus eliminating that 19th century 'death warmed over' look.
Jas~ (who is not at all photogenic)
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Post by Tricia on Nov 16, 2006 15:53:38 GMT -6
Nowadays, we ask people to smile, or say cheese, or sex, or whatever, so that modern photos tend to feature smiling people. Also a lot of our photos are candids, which were next to impossible to achieve in the 1860-70s. I don't remember seeing many smiling faces in photos from back then. I always think of Connell's comment about a photo of Benteen - he had the flat cold eyes of a killer. If one peruses many pictures of that era, one comes to realize that nearly EVERYBODY had the flat cold eyes of a killer, and a rather inanimate quality about them. Gordie Regarding Connell's statement about the Benteen photo, I have thought the same thing about some photos of GAC taken in early 1865. In them, his eyes are as impenetrable as the thickest fog. Frightening. These are often the illustrations used in documentaries when the producers are trying to depict "Custer as crazed Indian killer." Regards, LMC
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Post by elisabeth on Nov 17, 2006 6:45:28 GMT -6
An odd statement of Connell's, that. Just proves, I suppose, that we see in photos what we wish to see. (In every photo I've ever seen of Benteen, he has less "the flat cold eyes of a killer" and more the look of your favourite uncle about to make a joke!) It was Connell who somehow managed to see "Mephistophelian sexuality" in Keogh's photos. Bizarre.
However ... "the flat cold eyes of a killer" would hardly be surprising in any of the 7th Cavalry characters. It is what they do for a living, after all ...
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Post by Diane Merkel on Nov 17, 2006 9:05:43 GMT -6
Watson,
Thanks for starting my day with a smile!
If you really want to get depressed, bend over and look at your face in a mirror when you're upside down. Gravity is cruel!
Diane (also not photogenic!)
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 17, 2006 9:20:56 GMT -6
Diane:
I think your stick figure photo is quite flattering!
I like those mirrors at fun houses that really distort the way you look.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Nov 17, 2006 9:46:53 GMT -6
Thanks, Crazy, I look just like my self portrait!
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Post by harpskiddie on Nov 17, 2006 10:17:58 GMT -6
Diane:
You have a future as a Police Sketch Artist. Enquire at your local constabulary. [You might have to take the Famous Artists Course first - you know the one "Can You Draw This Figure?"]
Gordie
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Post by Tricia on Nov 17, 2006 11:23:36 GMT -6
Thanks, Crazy, I look just like my self portrait! Actually, you do!
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Post by wild on Nov 17, 2006 14:13:43 GMT -6
If you really want to get depressed, bend over and look at your face in a mirror when you're upside down. Gravity is cruel! You silly woman that's your butt you're looking at .No wonder you are depressed.
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Post by rch on Nov 17, 2006 14:40:39 GMT -6
I think the invention of retouching followed the invention of photography by 15 minutes, and I'm sure that some of Custer's photos were retouched.
I believe that Custer's appearance in the photos, from the fall of 1863 on, reflect the physical exertions of brigade and division command. I think the difference can be seen, if you compare the photo of Custer as a Capt taken with General Pleasonton with both men mounted (Katz K-14) and later photos of the men taken in the fall of 1863 (K-23 and 24). There appears to be more Custer in the sadddle in the earlier photo than there was Custer in the chair later.
rch
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