Tintype Rebel. Time stands still for John Coffer. The wet plate and tintype photographer makes his home at Camp Tintype, a farm preserved from the 1860s. With no running water or electricity, Coffer travels the roads with his horse "Brownie" and an ox-drawn wagon to take his photographs. Coffer adopted the lifestyle of a Civil War-era itinerant photographer more than 20 years ago and was among the first to revive the wet plate process. He's created tintype stereoviews (that achieve a 3-D effect when viewed through a stereoviewer), the “world’s first” tintype movie [.mov], and a series of large format, 20” x 24” tintypes which may be the largest ever made. Lincoln would be proud.
posted by NationalKato on Aug 3, 2006 - 16 comments

The 10 year long civil war in West Africa's Sierra Leone may have concluded in the last couple of years but rehabilitation of the country is painfully slow. War crime trials are under way but are underfunded and there's only scant attention paid by the western press. Naturally, the most vulnerable are at greatest risk. Pep Bonet has photographed children at the hospital for the blind, a war amputees soccer team and the rather disturbing conditions at Kissy mental hospital in Freetown. There is only space for about 150 of the estimated 50,000 people left psychotically disturbed by the war. These lucky ones are held in chains by way of treatment control. (via) [aid]
posted by peacay on May 28, 2005 - 19 comments

Images of the American Civil War
posted by matteo on May 20, 2005 - 23 comments

"Four score and seven years ago..."
Yesterday was the 140th anniversary of Lincoln's famous address. There is only one known photograph of President Lincoln at Gettysburg (here's the detail view if you're having a hard time spotting him). The Library of Congress website explains that the image sat for more than half a century in the National Archives before anyone recognized President Lincoln in it.
posted by Irontom on Nov 20, 2003 - 21 comments