.we wonder why.

.the one question i get asked most of all, isn't -why do you care? or -what are you going to do with all these? .the question i get asked most of all is -why didn't some who knows these people keep them? .it's kind of sad really. .imagine all your grandparent's photos ending up in the hands of strangers. .what happened to those family members that forced their photos into a discount bill at the local good will? .no grand kids, brothers or sisters to hold onto them. .or maybe there were, and they just didn't care. .and then they end up with me. .i become oddly attached to these strangers, their lives, what they wore, the outings they ventured on and the friends that they made along the way. .i hope someone will have an interest in all my photos when i'm gone one day. .hopefully someone close to me, and that will pass them down for generations. .and hopefully my awkward family photos will be hidden in shoe boxes for many many years.

.in one sleeve of slides, i've found everything from historical train trips, historic airplanes and graduations to family portraits and celebrations. .below is a selection (including a family photo that maybe they would have wished would have stayed in a family shoebox) of one random box that has no connection to anything else i have. .i find it amazing that after only a few photos, i can start to imagine how these people's lives unfolded. .in this case, a young man shares his life with us. 

 .yup, maybe this one should have stayed in the vault!

.a view from the 6218 train.

 .the 6218 at an unknown rail station.

.the story of rudolf blaut. .11. .evolution of a room.

.every new house comes with a bit of work to do.

.dinner on the wall paper table. .they must have just moved in.

.at some point during this journey, children come along. .still have no idea of the timeline of this box of photos. .but the evolution of this room was easy.

.and just for kicks. .why not take a picture of your dad in his underwear. .still the life of the party. .and his and her beds? .i thought they only did that on tv?

.trains.2.

.after getting some requests for a better scan of one of the images, i noticed that the conductor and an other man can be seen hanging out of the side of the train. .maybe that will help me figure out where these were taken?

.planes. .trains. ...

.i have one case of slides that don't seem to belong to anything else i have. .maybe more will turn up, but until then, here is a glimpse of the trains in hamilton, and i think the planes may be from florida.

.the 6218 was the last coal fired locomotive to run out of montreal. .the engineer was angus louis duncan, it is now currently on display at the CNR fort eerie railroad museum.

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/CNRsteamengines/

http://www.trha.ca/2010/03/fort-erie-rr-museum-restoration-of-cnr.html

.history of spitfire mk ix mk923. .the above plane.

http://www.jerrybilling.com/Jerry%20Billing%20Spitfire's/History%20of%20Spitfire%20MK923.htm

 

.this was the page inside the box.

.rudolf relief.

.i came across this photo while scanning through some of my next sets/families. .made me laugh. .all the other photos in the envelope were construction pictures of a house in port dover. .this one didn't seem to fit in!

.the story of rudolf blaut. .10. .a city skyline.

.a little view of toronto before the cn tower. .any ideas where they may have been to take this picture?

.a view to the west.

.old and new city hall.

.the royal york hotel, rail lines and toronto island.



.the story of rudolf blaut. .9. .the end of a roll.

.i find it interesting to see what comes at the end of the roll. .the few pictures that are tacked on just so you can go get that great party shot developed. .why waste a picture? .right? .these were the images that were at the end of the new year's party roll.

.this is my second favorite shot of the whole box. .completely out of place. .no one we know is in it. it's in german. .something about not parking your bike by the building. .a great shot, maybe without the photographer even thinking about it.

.and then i wonder how long they waited to develop the party pictures, as there are still leaves on the trees.