Need Black & White Images Of Chiang Mai To Blow Up For Walls

[OldChinaHam]

Hi,

I moved into a very nice place about 2 months ago. I cannot think of another accommodation which might suit me more. It's beautiful and not big and it has jungle and is quiet and has nice people and is close to where I need to go and the food is good in the vicinity and there are no longer any jetliners flying 1000 feet overhead and so far no loud super low frequency bass penetrating my walls like they were transparent to sound, which they are to very low frequency bass.

The only problem I have now is that the walls are bare.

Where can I get some images to blow up of Chiang Mai in the 20s onward? (1920 through 1985 OR 2473 through 2538)

I want Black and White, no color.

Anything really interesting showing the landscape and the buildings, the houses and the people.

Rice field I will take if they are where Chiang Mai is now, and I don't know if anyone ever grew rice here in the first place.

They must be fairly high resolution because I want to make prints which are suitable for hanging.

I suppose I would enlarge the image to a print the size of maximum one meter, but more likely 0,5 meters square, or something.

Also, where do you go in Chiang Mai to do high quality scanning of old photos?

Where do I make prints in Chiang Mai at the most competitive price?

To me, the old black and white images of cities and neighborhoods showing people, and sometimes important events are both fascinating and beautiful.

I just want to put them on my wall so I can stare at them sometimes.

I never stare at my walls though,

When I have TVF always here by me.

Edited September 9, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[eyecatcher]

Oldchina; you paint a lovely picture of where you are now….infact it reminded me of this “If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!” (Gladiator 2000)

We have all been trying to find Elysium in Chiang Mai and you have found it pretty fast…care to share?...or you are dead already?

Not an expert on photography by any means, but to get high resolution old photos before the advent of the digital era to me sounds impossible. The old pin hole/box brownie camera photo rated at 1 pixel, with the future on the horizon…the sodium flashbulb surely cannot reproduce as you would wish.

I would think however that many of the graphic/sign design shops have the cd with photoshop images of every conceivable subject and already in high resolution. Many would be free, but you can also try the internet like “shutterstock” they sell high resolution images for you to reproduce yourself.

You can do a search for the subject material, and see if the price is royalty free or a fee to pay and then simply transfer them to a memory stick and take them to a printer to print out on whatever material you prefer, photo paper, vinyl, glass.

Personally though, whilst black and white is quite an authentic medium to present, I would just try to see them in sepia as they would add a further dimension and warmth to a room.

good luck with the search.

[OldChinaHam]

Oldchina; you paint a lovely picture of where you are now….infact it reminded me of this “If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!” (Gladiator 2000)

We have all been trying to find Elysium in Chiang Mai and you have found it pretty fast…care to share?...or you are dead already?

Not an expert on photography by any means, but to get high resolution old photos before the advent of the digital era to me sounds impossible. The old pin hole/box brownie camera photo rated at 1 pixel, with the future on the horizon…the sodium flashbulb surely cannot reproduce as you would wish.

I would think however that many of the graphic/sign design shops have the cd with photoshop images of every conceivable subject and already in high resolution. Many would be free, but you can also try the internet like “shutterstock” they sell high resolution images for you to reproduce yourself.

You can do a search for the subject material, and see if the price is royalty free or a fee to pay and then simply transfer them to a memory stick and take them to a printer to print out on whatever material you prefer, photo paper, vinyl, glass.

Personally though, whilst black and white is quite an authentic medium to present, I would just try to see them in sepia as they would add a further dimension and warmth to a room.

good luck with the search.

While I always thank you for any of your good comments directed my way, you would be very much mistaken if you believed that there were no high resolution imagery before the digital age. I cannot say about your thinking that I might be dead already because I do not think we have reached a consensus regarding this minor point. Yes, it is true that I happened upon a beautiful spot, and it was only a matter of luck. I am very fortunate, I know.

One of the best black and white imagery collections of the past is surely Frank Hurley's many beautiful crystal clear high resolution Endurance images using glass plates before WW2. I will post one here so that you can see just how fine it truly is. There is a whole collection of Hurley images, and you sometimes need to pay to see them.

The Chiang Mai photos I am looking for do not need to be this high resolution or done in such a professional manner. Sometimes the ones that are not planned or are not without their faults are more interesting. Many of the older photos actually can be enlarged quite a bit. Thank you, too, for all the information regarding imagery and photography. (I would not be a bit surprised if you already know of Frank Hurley's work. I just like this chance to see it again and share it with you, so that people can see what amazing images were possible in the 1930s.)

Happy viewing:

[OldChinaHam]

What I did not know is that CMU has a website which links a number of old black and white Chiang Mai images.

They are downloadable.

I will take time to go through all of them, and here is a sampling of 5 which might strike your fancy:

This is, of course, Miss Universe, 1965.

Here you have your typical hard studying CMU students, and smart too. No Date But I guess 1974

1965 Winter Fair Beauty Contest

Here 1953, and Songkran in Chiang Mai. This one is interesting.

Most are not really interesting to put on a wall and stare at.

That is what I am looking for.

I am sure I will find what I am looking for with your help.

Probably someone at the University knows just where to look, in fact.

I guess most people are so obsessed with the future, and the Nexus 7.2, that they don't have time for these old shots?

Not necessarily.

I want a Nexus 7.2, with its higher resolution,

So that I can load and view images like these, only better ones.

Happy Viewing.

And please contribute.

Thanks.

[noise]

Do not rule out color photographs. They can be easily rendered in B&W, adjusted for the brightness, tint, and contrast you want and sharpened, if needed.

[masuk]

It's interesting that many of the men in one picture (Songkran 1953) are wearing shorts, which makes a lot of sense in the tropics.

What's happened since then? Is it only tourists in shorts now?

[samsara]

excellent thread. also interested in this...pre-70s if possible.

[jingjoke]

Once you have selected your photos, you may wish to have them enlarged in order to wall paper an individual wall that appropriately highlights a wall.

The print shop at the corner of the Three Kings and Yupparat likely can do it.

A plasticized version may also be advantageous to allow for feathering dust off - several of these specialized machines around town -

one I recall is on the soi bordering Amorn and the corner bakery,'S..whatever'.

[cmsally]

Once you have selected your photos, you may wish to have them enlarged in order to wall paper an individual wall that appropriately highlights a wall.

The print shop at the corner of the Three Kings and Yupparat likely can do it.

A plasticized version may also be advantageous to allow for feathering dust off - several of these specialized machines around town -

one I recall is on the soi bordering Amorn and the corner bakery,'S..whatever'.

Unfortunately the print shop at 3 Kings has now morphed into a cafe

Does anyone know where it moved to !!

[onthedarkside]

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