Category Archives: History

Behold: one of the most famous of many pictures taken during the Apollo 11 moon landing in the summer of ’69 – a shot of Buzz Aldrin taken by Neil Armstrong. Also in reverse. To wit:

The original image (top pic) captured not only the magnificent desolation of an unfamiliar world, but Armstrong himself reflected in Aldrin’s curved visor. Enter modern digital technology. In the featured image (pic 2), the spherical distortion from Aldrin’s helmet has been reversed. The result is the famous picture — but now featuring Armstrong himself from Aldrin’s perspective. Even so, since Armstrong took the picture, the image is effectively a five-decade old lunar selfie. The original visor reflection is shown on the left, while Earth hangs in the lunar sky on the upper right. A foil-wrapped leg of the Eagle lander is prominently visible. Preparations to return humans to the Moon in the next few years include the Artemis program, an international collaboration led by NASA.

Any excuse.

(Image: NASA, Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong; Processing: Michael Ranger)

apod

Rob Cross tweetz:

My colourised c1900 photo of the Public Records Office in the Four Courts in #Dublin. On the 30th June 1922, it was destroyed by fire when it was shelled by the Free State Army while evicting the Anti-Treaty rebels.

Photographer Jan Langer’s ‘Faces Of  Century’ project in which Czech centenarians re-enact the poses of photographs taken of themselves 70 or 80 years earlier.

Short biographies of the subjects can be found at the ⓘ below each pair of photographs on the site.

kottke

Rob Cross tweetz:

My 1900c photo of The Hole in the Wall. British soldiers based in McKee Barracks would sneak off and go for a pint in the tavern and the owner Levinus Doyle served the men through a hole in the park wall, hence the name.

Rob Cross tweetz:

My colourised c1900 photo featuring #Galway fishermen drawing in the nets. The thatched cottages in the background are in the Claddagh district which was inhabited solely by a clan of fishermen and their families.

Rob Cross tweetz:

My colourised 1900c Robert French photo featuring the old Claddagh Bridge which linked the Fish Market and the Claddagh in #Galway City. The bridge was constructed in 1887 and replaced by the Wolfe Tone bridge in 1934.

The old Claddagh Bridge washing line.

Rob Cross tweetz:

My restored photo of the 1925 Owencarrow Viaduct Disaster when winds of up to 120 mph derailed carriages of the train off the viaduct. The roof of a carriage was ripped off throwing four people to their deaths.