J. C. Bell - Grand Father
A giant thank you to two wonderful cousins, Mary and Rebecca. They have given me the gift and privilege of being the conservator for many hundreds of glass plates and film negatives. These Images were ones our grandfather, Joseph Charles Bell, took during the first couple of decades of the 20th century. Grandfather passed in 1932 so I never had the opportunity to meet him, hear his voice, or know his character. Through his photography, I got to know him better than I thought possible. He loved his children, so many of these photographs are of children. He even photographed his car with them, and he loved the outdoors, given the many pictures of his fishing trips.
He took his photography quite seriously. Sometimes he would meticulously pose his subjects, other times he would try to manipulate his images by cutting out the sky and inserting another that was more to his liking. Unfortunately, he often missed focus. So often I wondered, was it because of presbyopia, or the challenge of focusing on ground glass.
This website is all about Joseph Charles Bell (1872-1932) and his Children.
Thank you to my youngest son Eban. He was kind enough to document our trip to Trinidad to pick up the glass plates. He was also my "Sherpa" carrying heavy boxes up the narrow stairway. His pictures are below, and those of grandfather's may be seen by selecting the Galleries menu.
Click on a picture to see larger image.