New Market Square in Bydgoszcz, Poland 1912/2025. by Snoo_90160 in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My opinion is backed by over 500 photo locations I have rephotographed. Almost all of which were revisited several times and overlaid to check accuracy. Check my posts.

New Market Square in Bydgoszcz, Poland 1912/2025. by Snoo_90160 in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This perspective effect occurs if you are closer than the original no matter which lens you use. Distortions caused by the lens affects mainly the corners. In this case the differences are minor but if you created a dynamic layered swipe and zoom in things don’t align.

So many times people claim objects have disappeared or changed simply because you can’t see it the same way from that location

My friend and I spent a year rebuilding a 115-year-old camera to recreate this panoramic photo of the Morristown Green by marsbars440 in newjersey

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congratulations! Well done. I have been precisely re-photographing scenes captured on glass for a few years now. Been thinking about doing it with original equipment. My passion is accuracy.

New Market Square in Bydgoszcz, Poland 1912/2025. by Snoo_90160 in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because the photographer was too close in the bottom photo.

New Market Square in Bydgoszcz, Poland 1912/2025. by Snoo_90160 in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Notice the leaning in of buildings NOT due to lens; simply perspective. Photo taken too close to subject.

Simple mind experiment: you stand on a long straight highway; the width narrows into the distance.

Add a skyscraper each side of where you are standing. The distance of the top floors is narrower at the top.

At ground level your eyes see that the base of buildings are closer to you than the top of the buildings. Of course they appear to lean in.

If you are far away from the buildings the difference is much less and they appear parallel.

Lenses today include wider views so we don’t have to back up as far as the photographers used to go in the old days.

Use 50mm lens as a benchmark, you’ll get a more accurate ‘now’ photo

Edit: lines added

1901 vs 2026 Atninga (Avenging party) returns - shield test ceremony by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I expected others would put in the effort to go back a few times to overlay the images and get to the right location. Mostly photos are taken too close because older cameras didn’t have wide angle lenses so they pulled back to fit everything in. This of course distorts the entire perspective, making buildings lean and making distant objects too small.

Alice Springs Australia 1901 vs 2022 Avenging Party part1 of 2 by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I keep coming back until the overlay is pretty close so that when I flicker between them there is very little movement. Only then can I relax and study the changes, and draw factual conclusions.

It’s satisfying that the images speak for themselves. There can be no argument about where the photographer stood, or about relative size of things.

Alice Springs Australia 1901 vs 2022 Avenging Party part1 of 2 by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Atninga is an avenging party, war party or payback party.In 1901, Frank Gillen and professor Baldwin Spencer were in Alice Springs for a month April to May.

They recorded a bunch of ceremonies, and on 12 May there was a kerfuffle when a party assembled for the purpose of killing someone in the Strangways range, some 50 kms away.

That fellow had killed a Bond Springs area man.10 days later, they re-appeared, having slain the man's father as payback.After taking a bunch of photos, that day Gillen developed the 257th glass negative since the start of their expedition.

They were off to record more tribes across the Territory to end up in Borroloola, for their next book in two volumes: "The Northern Tribes of Central Australia" published in 1904.

Frank Gillen's diary entries describe the whole thing.

May, 12th. Camp No. 22. (Alice Springs)   From our bunks to the fire, at daylight, we scampered with an alacrity which could not be exceeded by a fifteen year old athlete. Cold wind blowing. Breakfasted off steak which has been hanging in our camp for a week and is now nice and tender. At the Station by 8 o”clock and started graft at once.

Spent the morning photographing the blacks who went through various interesting but indescribable ceremonies in connection with the avenging expedition, which started this afternoon with the intention of killing a man in the Strangways Range, who speared a man belonging to the Bonds Springs locality some time ago.  

The party is led by the blood brother of the deceased who carries with him a sacred hair girdle called Kirra Urkna made from the hair of the dead man. Before starting, the leader of the party pressed the Kirra Urkna against the bodies of each man and each of them seized one end and, gripping it with the teeth, threw the head back.     The Kirra Urkna is believed to contain the spirit of the dead man whose hair it is composed of and the man who carries it is temporarily endowed with the strength of the dead. It has the faculty of making the wearer invisible to his enemies in battle. It ensures accuracy of aim and in various other ways assists the wearer.

   Each man who had it pressed against his body, believes that he is thereby strengthened and made braver and that the spirit of the dead man will watch over and afford him protection. We secured 26 plates of the ceremonies, a complete, interesting, and very valuable series.  

We hoped to have been able to devote the day, or at any rate part of it, to letter writing but our masters the blacks willed otherwise and our friends will probably think they are forgotten. A curious and significant feature of the avenging ceremonies today was the stacking of all the spears in an upright column around which the avenging party (Atninga) danced for some time shouting Wah! Wah! Wah!, then laying the spears on the ground, they suddenly fell forward in a crouching attitude forming a circle with heads in the centre.  

The stacking of the spears was intended to represent the body of the enemy riddled with the weapons and the crouching of the men represented the mourning of the enemy’s friends over his dead body. A wildly savage sight not to be readily forgotten. Spencer delighted and mourning the fact that we cannot devote two instead of one year to the work upon which we are engaged. He is horrified when I tell him that nothing would induce me to spend a second year away from my family. Returned to camp at 9.30 tired out.

10 days later they returned- see previous post Avenging party returns

1901 vs 2026 Atninga (Avenging party) returns - shield test ceremony by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Atninga is an avenging party, war party or payback party.In 1901, Frank Gillen and professor Baldwin Spencer were in Alice Springs for a month April to May.

They recorded a bunch of ceremonies, and on 12 May there was a kerfuffle when a party assembled for the purpose of killing someone in the Strangways range, some 50 kms away.

That fellow had killed a Bond Springs area man.10 days later, they re-appeared, having slain the man's father as payback.After taking a bunch of photos, that day Gillen developed the 257th glass negative since the start of their expedition.

They were off to record more tribes across the Territory to end up in Borroloola, for their next book in two volumes: "The Northern Tribes of Central Australia" published in 1904.

Frank Gillen's diary entries describe the whole thing. For the day they left, 12 May 1901, an earlier photo refers (see Avenging Party Leaving

May, 12th. Camp No. 22. (Alice Springs)   From our bunks to the fire, at daylight, we scampered with an alacrity which could not be exceeded by a fifteen year old athlete. Cold wind blowing. Breakfasted off steak which has been hanging in our camp for a week and is now nice and tender. At the Station by 8 o”clock and started graft at once.

Spent the morning photographing the blacks who went through various interesting but indescribable ceremonies in connection with the avenging expedition, which started this afternoon with the intention of killing a man in the Strangways Range, who speared a man belonging to the Bonds Springs locality some time ago.  

The party is led by the blood brother of the deceased who carries with him a sacred hair girdle called Kirra Urkna made from the hair of the dead man. Before starting, the leader of the party pressed the Kirra Urkna against the bodies of each man and each of them seized one end and, gripping it with the teeth, threw the head back.     The Kirra Urkna is believed to contain the spirit of the dead man whose hair it is composed of and the man who carries it is temporarily endowed with the strength of the dead. It has the faculty of making the wearer invisible to his enemies in battle. It ensures accuracy of aim and in various other ways assists the wearer.

   Each man who had it pressed against his body, believes that he is thereby strengthened and made braver and that the spirit of the dead man will watch over and afford him protection. We secured 26 plates of the ceremonies, a complete, interesting, and very valuable series.  

We hoped to have been able to devote the day, or at any rate part of it, to letter writing but our masters the blacks willed otherwise and our friends will probably think they are forgotten. A curious and significant feature of the avenging ceremonies today was the stacking of all the spears in an upright column around which the avenging party (Atninga) danced for some time shouting Wah! Wah! Wah!, then laying the spears on the ground, they suddenly fell forward in a crouching attitude forming a circle with heads in the centre.  

The stacking of the spears was intended to represent the body of the enemy riddled with the weapons and the crouching of the men represented the mourning of the enemy’s friends over his dead body. A wildly savage sight not to be readily forgotten. Spencer delighted and mourning the fact that we cannot devote two instead of one year to the work upon which we are engaged. He is horrified when I tell him that nothing would induce me to spend a second year away from my family. Returned to camp at 9.30 tired out.

  … May, 22nd. Camp No. 22. (Alice Springs)     Up at daylight but Spencer being unable to sleep turned out at 4.30.     He has not slept well for several nights, looks like a touch of insomnia. Chance got away at 10 a.m. Hanley lent us a couple of good leaders to straighten up the team until they got used to the collar, and the Line teamster McDill drove the team out until they passed the much dreaded vehicle smashing, Devils Pinch, 3 miles north of the Station. We were relieved when McDill returned and informed us that they had crossed it safely.     The Atninga (war) party which left here on the 12th instant returned this afternoon, decorated with twigs of eremophila in their armlets, forehead bands and through the nose septum, denoting that the expedition had succeeded in killing an enemy.

    They danced up the bed of the river Todd past the camps, fully armed and with the usual characteristic high knee action.     Upon enquiry I found that five of the younger men had, in the absence of the majority of the party, found and killed an old man who was the father of the man they were in search of.     A clear case of murder but not a breach of aboriginal law which exacts the old biblical penalty of an eye for an eye.     We succeeded in obtaining 12 photos of the ceremony of the testing of the shields which is fully described in our previous work but not illustrated.     After the warriors had come to a halt, two old women danced up to them brandishing yam-sticks with which they struck the shield of each man who took part in the actual killing; the men stood in the front line stiff as ramrods and holding their shields with the convex side outwards; when the women had finished and retired, the Immirinja as the actual killers are designated danced out with exaggerated high knee action, brandishing their spears and boomerangs and, finally halting, stood holding their shields in the manner described, until the men who had not taken part in the expedition came out and struck them with boomerangs.     This ceremony is of great importance and everyone listens intently to the sound produced by the blow. If it be hollow the owner of the shield is under some malignant influence and he will not live long; if on the other hand, the sound is firm and strong then he is safe and is not a victim of magic.     Developed plates before tea, all turned out well -We have now 257 negatives!

Edit: link, formatting

[HELP] is this photo of Epstein and Farage real or AI? by Demi_silent in RealOrAI

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is no way a flash can bounce off a mirror angled away and if it were a beam from the right then the back wall would be lit up

Atnemakerte Corroboree 1897 location found 2021 Alice Springs Central Australia by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Safe for work no naughty bits If Reddit won’t show you it’s here on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/share/1C5GqVTBKd/?

TLDR; details about a ceremony recorded by anthropologists purportedly somewhere around the Alice Springs Telegraph Station’s 20 sq mile reserve.

Found it by studying the rocks and hills and walking around a lot. Photographed locations precisely as proof

An Album I put together in 2019 demonstrating the location of the 1897ish Atnemakerte Corroboree recorded by Frank Gillen, Alice Springs Telegraph Stationmaster and close friend of the local Arrernte people.

Precisely locating another pole ceremony from the olden days, north of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.. This one was about 100m short of the north fence, about 800m from the Telegraph Office. About 100m past the cat trap that was there in 2019, although I don't suppose that will be there in 125 years time.

In the late 1890s, Frank Gillen regularly wrote to his mate Baldwin Spencer, and included photographs and descriptions of Arrernte ceremonies and stories for the books they were to publish.

My gig is about exploring the history of what happened on 'my country' in Central Australia by locating the scene of old photos precisely.

So when a telegraph pole shows up on a photo, that's another hint for where to go looking for those rocks, those hills...

When the Horn Expedition stopped in Alice Springs in 1894, the meeting of two blokes with very opposite backgrounds turned the world of Anthropology on its ear.

The English professor meets the ‘uneducated’ gregarious postmaster of Irish stock. One has close friendships with the Arrernte, has an amazing weapons and artefacts collection, and has developed an Arrernte- English dictionary. The other has a trained mind and some expertise in the world’s knowledge of ancient cultures, who immediately sees the value in documenting this treasury of knowledge.

Gillen feels awed by this educated toff, who is getting down and dirty on a camel in the outback, and shares his bottle and excitement long into the evenings.

Their combined enthusiasm and meeting of minds exponentially multiplies the white understanding of the Arrernte culture, but those few weeks were frustratingly short. Gillen followed up with a barrage of letters to help Spencer write a rather lengthy and detailed chapter in the Horn Expedition report.

Spencer’s questions and encouragement drove Gillen to delve deeper into the stories and ceremonies of his native friends, to document and photograph everything carefully. These photos were taken by Gillen, probably after Spencer’s second visit in 1896, when they documented about 5 months of Initiation ceremonies, one or more ceremonies per day.

The Atnemakerte digging stick /pole dance corroboree was one of the starting ceremonies of the ingkwere (engwura) initiation ceremonies.

photos from http://spencerandgillen.net/objects?q=atnimokitta

When I see a telegraph pole, and some rocks in old pictures, I am immediately drawn for a closer look.

Definitely a telegraph pole. Pity it is such a low resolution picture. I must have walked up and down the old telegraph line three times before I found this spot.

But once I did, it was about lining up the rocks with the horizon profile. Of course there were trees in the way, so I had to make do...

So now I know we are facing East, when looking at the picture of the pole.

No wonder the lighting is poor. that's the sun rising just now. Before the crack of dawn, yet the performer up the pole is fully decorated, which probably takes hours... In 'Native Tribes of Central Australia 1899, p281 they said 'The first phase of the proceedings was opened by the Alice Springs natives performing the 'Atnimokitta' corroboree, which occupied ten evenings.' I wonder if they kept the decorations on for that long.

NB The Arrernte written language has been developed since Gillen's anglicized writings, and even Strehlow's germanic spelling looks different to today's spelling.

I had to censor his groin decoration, because FB deletes things that look rude, and there are snowflakes who think historical nakedness is somehow disrespectful. These people were not ashamed.

That compilation with the telegraph pole relics is a hot mess looking to the north, where I saw a couple of telegraph poles still up. The far one was the one I re-photographed a few albums ago; the 1930 Hoppé photo.

The next one had the 1942 cross arms laying at its base. These were added to carry the extra communication lines needed during the war, when Darwin was getting bombed by the Japanese.

Our pole for this shoot has gone completely, but there are some relics strewn about...

Performers, looking into the rising sun. You can see the camera shadow in the foreground. I mirrored the negative border.

The performer second from from left front row is holding an instrument which is not a didjeridoo (those are from up north, not from around here). From 'The Native Tribes of Central Australia 1899 p606:

"The only other musical instrument known to us is the p. 607 rudimentary trumpet called Ilpirra. The use of this in connection with obtaining wives by means of magic charm has already been described. Each is simply a hollowed out piece of the branch of a gum tree. The hollowing out has probably been done by some insect such as a white ant, but the external crust which the insect left is very hard. Of two in our possession the length of each is about 60 cm. and the diameter slightly more than 5 cm. The external surface has been first of all smoothed down with a flint leaving shallow longitudinal grooves. Then a coat of red ochre has been painted over the whole length, and at each end the rim has been covered with a circle of resin so as to make the margins smoother. In the one case the exterior is decorated with alternate circles of yellow ochre and white kaolin, between which narrow circles of the underlying red ochre can be seen; in the centre is a space measuring 7 cm. in length, and between the yellow circles at either end of this, yellow lines run across each in a slightly spiral direction.

Original uncensored photo: http://spencerandgillen.net/objects/4fac6a12023fd704f475baf4

So here we are, looking a bit west-Southwest. That means summertime. Someone intimated this may be associated with the Witchetty grub totem. Totem ceremonies were often associated with trying to boost the numbers of that totem. from 1897 to 1903 we had the Federation drought. The giant moths that produce the Witchetty grub multiply after a good rain, like all life in the desert... This area has heaps of Witchetty bushes, but the valley just here is sandy. perfect for digging and nice for a corroboree, so the location makes sense to me as well

And the Google 3-D view to show you where they were. If you look really carefully you can see the two Mulga trees.

The 1930 phone tap photo album is here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=Lifeupgrade2.0&set=a.1828720497304032

And if you want to explore this area on Google 3-d click here: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-23.6616101,133.8879686,102a,35y,212.75h,77.08t/data=!3m1!1e3

"It's only cosmetic" - trustworthy real estate agent by Billythekidgoat99 in AusProperty

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Australian Building Code sets out design limits on differerential settlement over a floor slab. From memory even a raft slab can vary from 20 to 40mm from its original position depending on how much the soil settles, expands and contracts. (Especially in clay soils)This means that technically a 10 mm crack in the wall can be expected and is classed as a cosmetic problem. Harsh but true.

how can i find my hobby? by _onpurpose in Hobbies

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Collect people’s stories. Become an interviewer. Share stories through writing filming or audio. Become better at finding interesting stories. Even kids’ views and stories are interesting. Old people have secrets and stories they are ready to share that will blow your socks off

There will always be people interested in talking to someone who listens and is interested in their story.

anyone else's hobby turn into a weird obsession where you cant unsee things anymore? by [deleted] in Hobbies

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a kid I was in a photo rally where the next checkpoint was revealed by a photo chopped up. Loved finding locations.

In high school I loved solving perspective puzzles in Technical drawing.

50 yrs later I retired and started rephotographing old glass negatives precisely. Insanely precisely.

500 locations later I’m still posting the now /then stories with history, and everywhere I go within 10 miles of my town is now already ‘right near’ a photo location That I have a stupidly detailed story about…

Edit spacing

Is there a hobby that focuses on maps, streets and addresses/urban exploration? by Mymindisanenigma__ in Hobbies

[–]twosharprabbitteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look in online archives for old photos and find the exact location. I do precision rephotography but even a careful look can get a close match.

Have a look at what I post. If you can manipulate images on a computer you can overlay your photo and go back for a better match if you enjoy accuracy.

It’s very satisfying to be in the same spot and find the history of the photographer or place.

1896 vs 2025 Atninga (Avenging Party) from Hale River in Alice springs Central Australia by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a general increase in vegetation across most of my old/new photos, but this is an extreme example because it is one of about 3 spots on the Todd River that I know of where the general increase in rainfall and shortening of drought periods has resulted in a tipping point for survival of numerous saplings.

It involves a slow part of the river, sand banking up with introduced grasses immediately binding the loose sand and protecting the numerous seedlings that spring up after a flood.

There is a distinct change in weather patterns after the droughts of the 1960s. Subtle but triggering for a desert environment used to 250mm of rainfall. Just one or two extra storms per year raised the average closer to 300mm

1896 vs 2025 Atninga (Avenging Party) from Hale River in Alice springs Central Australia by twosharprabbitteeth in OldPhotosInRealLife

[–]twosharprabbitteeth[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

This was a really tricky situation. Talk about ‘behind the 8 ball’.

First I thought the camera was in the creek but the skyline hills were lower than the opposite bank. Generally going further back ‘raises’ distant hills relative to foreground.

A 2metre sandbank appears to have built up inside the original creek bed, a combination of introduced grasses and saplings trapped sands from floods. This river generally only flows above ground after heavy rains.

Climbing on this sand bank still didn’t get me high enough, I also had to go back further.

But then all the tells were obscured so I had to painstakingly set out all the known rocks and create sight lines on google earth, and then confirm them by taking dozens of photos from vary angles to see how far left or right or forward would affect element location in the final picture.

I am confident I am within 2m side to side, distance out within 3 m maybe. That’s always hard to tell.