Fairmont NC--April 20, 1955. "Farmer's Day Parade". Gov. Hodges on reviewing stand. N&O photo by staff photographer Ed Chabot. NC Museum of History 1970.78.83

news clip April 21 1955, Raleigh News & Observer.

N&O staffer Ed Chabot had been a combat medic in WWII in the ETO, postwar he became a PIO for the Army and was sent to Korea, when he came back he spent 15 years on staff at the N&O, leaving the Army as a Master Sgt, with Bronze Star & Purple Heart. He passed away in 2006.

I've always like this photo from the N&O dated 4/20/1955 that ran in the next day's edition. the Farmer's Day parade in Fairmount NC. The print comes from the Luther Hodges Collection, but the original negatives can be found in the N&O Collection at the State Archives. scanned from original print

"Being Normal is Overrated" written on guard rail, Bynum Bridge, Bynum NC, April 21, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Bynum Bridge, Bynum NC, April 21, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

similar design to a calumet cadet

T shirt ca 1983-84

relic

Sample of Vick’s Vaporub, 1920. NC Museum of History 1988.122.11.

this is a homemade "coin stage" that has served us well for decades. a wooden block covered in black velvet with a black painted dowel stuck into it. depth of field is quite shallow up close with macro lenses, so only a couple of inches is needed to drop out of focus.

this setup has one light. depending on what you're doing you may need more, or it may need to be soft. sometimes a tilt-shift is handy to shift the lens, and "place" a reflection into the object.

even though the background is black velvet, the nap will still show up if light hits it. so the black cards are used to cut that. the white fill card has black gaffer tape across the bottom section.

here's a simple setup from the studio this day in 2016, a very old trick too. when you lay an object on top of a background, you often see the texture beneath. the way to make it clean, is to get it a few inches off. black velvet works best. this is now coins, buttons etc. are done.

when they bring back Ektalure and you recognize that name, then you know you're old.

“old people”

makeshift shooting table of opaque plexiglass scrap from an old shooting box.

the small light is aimed thru diffusion scrap draped above the cards, this reflects into the neck of the bottle.

black is also used to "cut" the reflections into glass to help form the shape.

the table here is pretty simple. sheet of opaque plex on a saw horse and supported by a rod clamped to two auto poles. for the studio "super clamps" or "Mafer" for the original Matthews variety, are indispensable. I would say a minimum of 4, with higher numbers are handy to have. 6, 8 or a dozen

Bottle of Dobell's solution, ca. 1900-1930. NC Museum of History 1995.183.198.

DNCR WWI book, the clear bottle here is the set posted. I shot all the others on this spread as well.

this is the other classic way to light glass, by bouncing lights off cards flanking the object. this set is more complicated by the label and fact that there was liquid in bottle as well.

the black card is limiting the amount of light shown on set above to just illuminating the base of the bottle.

back in the studio on April 19, 2016 with another object needed for the WWI book. the designers wanted to show the liquid in the partial bottle here, against the black page. this was accomplished by an old trick. the bottle uses the other way to light glass, from the one I posted other day.

Rialto Theater marquee, "ET Stay Home" at start of the Covid-19 shutdown. 1620 Glenwood Ave. Raleigh NC, April 19, 2020. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

The Rialto theater, Raleigh NC, at the start of the Covid 19 shutdown, April 19, 2020. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CHR

that crayon portrait is in the collection of the NC Museum of History. accession # 1976.11.2. there is also a tintype purported to be him. #2015.27.1 If you go to website & find the "search the collection" feature, you can locate the records. this search software is buggy.

Robbins, Parker David See also Civil War 1834–1 Nov. 1917 Parker David Robbins. Raleigh, [N.C.]: NC Museum of History, N.C. Dept. of Cultural Resources. Parker David

not really. I just pick it up thru work. How about Parker Robbins? www.ncpedia.org/biography/ro...

here this is the kind of stuff I collect and much worse, hate symbols and language I won't post.

part of my own work is looking for political graffiti, ephemera and hate speech used in street art and protests. I don't post that stuff much. I donate most to either the museum I work for or to UNC-CH. I recently donated a bunch of patriot front ephemera I had been accumulating. that goes on in NC

Republican ticket a couple years later, but when they realized who he was, the party disavowed him. There's an N&O interview with Covington in the early 80s where he speaks of the Nazi flag getting a "bad rap", so they wanted to "rebrand" with the Confederate flag. there's a lot of stories like this

"Death to the Klan" march. yep. I have worked on a lot of Civil War and Civil Rights exhibits. when I was covering Moral Monday protests (own time) I always made sure to get photos of Nelson Johnson. An oddball fact from the G-Boro massacre was the Neo Nazi leader Harold Covington. ran for AG under

John chicken Stephens murder as well. Later the Red Shirts, vote suppression, terrorism and Wilmington. By end of century white supremacists and Democratic Party rule thru the Jim Crow era. the rest is history

the KKK, Kirk Holden war and all that got him impeached.

that’s what NC has longed claimed. along with “first at Bethel, last at Appomattox” for soldiers killed although some other states contest that. NC was also the last to secede. The eastern part was occupied by the Union for most of war. West had a lot of Union sympathizers.

one scotch, one bourbon and one beer

thanks. that was another life ago. some of my work was used in this box set that came out back in 2017 for another Record Stay Day. I shot that cover on chrome film back in 1987. this autographed copy was the one the label sent to the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC-CH.

Dexter Romweber on his moped, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill NC 1989. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

fwiw you may get a kick out of this photo I shot back in 1989. on my lunch break from work, I ran across Dexter getting on his moped on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. I always had a camera on me, at that time it was an old F2, no meter and a 35/2.8 nikkor. a real beater. scanned Kodabromide postcard.

"RIP DEX" painted on the Bynum Bridge, Bynum NC, Aug. 17, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Singing saw demonstration at IBMA, Raleigh NC, Sept. 28, 2019. "Fiddle & Banjo: The Roots and Branches of American Music"--presented by Jocelyn Neal with Allison DeGroot, Tatiana Hargeaves, Justin Robinson, Pattie Kinlaw, Hank Smith, Dwight Hawkins (singing saw) and "Stale Bread Scottie"-(guitar). DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Dwight Hawkins bows the #Edge of a handsaw to demonstrate the "singing saw" at the "Fiddle & Banjo: The Roots and Branches of American Music" discussion during the IBMA, Raleigh NC, Sept. 28, 2019. #BlueSkyArtShow DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Tree seen through two windows on right at the NC State Legislature, Raleigh NC, April 10, 2021. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Corner #Edge of two windows creates an illusion at the NC State Legislature building, with Wilmington Street in the background, Raleigh NC, April 10, 2021. #BlueSkyArtShow DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Mural on the side of Table, a local food delivery network for children, 311 E. Main St., Carrboro NC, Jan 1, 2014. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

#Edge of mural & wall, Table, 311 E. Main St., Carrboro NC, Jan 1, 2014. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH #BlueSkyArtShow

Visitor comment cards for an exhibit

came across these visitor comment cards on this day back in 2019 for a space program exhibit. the cards were filled out and posted to a board we would periodically clean off & start over.

yep. I've often thought that some of those weird color balance films were maybe damaged lots that had been repackaged as a "new" alternative thing. some of these films were maybe made for industrial or technical purposes with a market that obsoleted them in a shift to digital.

helluva b+f there.

Glass vase--ca. 1890-1910. NC Museum of History 1971.106.1.

One light tabletop set for photographing a glass vase. the light is on top feathered to background, white cards in front & sides reflect light back in.

Special Forces Green Beret, given to Col. Mildred Irene Clark by Barry Sadler, author of "The Ballad of the Green Berets". NC Museum of History 1993.437.75.

tabletop photography set using a rod to hold an object, but directly behind, so that it is "hidden" by the direct angle of view.

here's a couple of artifacts from the studio on this day back in 2015 & 2019. the green beret uses an old trick of "hiding" a mount directly behind the object. that was given to Col. Mildred Irene Clark, Army nurse during WWII who would become the head of the Army Nurse Corps by time of Viet Nam