Southern Life

This is my Aunt. Such a small girl, such a big bike.


New Bern in 1946 looking south at the mouth of the Trent River.


Mr. John Story. I'm making a guess that this was at Camp Bryan near Havelock, NC.


They may be protected now......


Howard Rose mending a net. He moved to Harkers Island in 1913 from Diamond City. Diamond City was on the eastern end of Shackleford Banks and was a whaling community. This man could tell you the weather for the day and tomorrow and was always accurate. He taught me quite a bit about living off the sounds and ocean growing up.

This would be us...

This was most likely in 1961 at Harkers Island, NC and yes this is me. No sagging pants in those days, no sir. I could run like hell and they never fell down.

This is my wife Debbie. I won't comment on her age here or the date but it was a long, long time ago in a land far away.


I caught these two at Cape Lookout with a cane pole before breakfast.

George Eastman

George Eastman

What he did was take the art of photography away from being a specialized trade and made it something anyone could do.

The $1 box camera called the "Brownie" made his company a worldwide name. The film inside was cellulose acetate with silver halide grains imbedded in a gelatin layer that reacted to light quickly and predictably. The camera contained a roll that could hold 100 pictures, when you were done taking your pictures you would mail your camera in, the pictures would be developed, the camera was reloaded and then sent back to you. The process was affordable and easy.

Getting started

I discovered a fantastic amount of old photos taken by my grandfather starting in 1930 or so. A good amount are aerial shots taken from his plane of the eastern seaboard but mainly eastern NC. I plan to post them here instead of my other blog www.ralphps.blogspot.com. I have always had an appreciation of old photographs and I plan to have quite a few posted here.

-Ralph-