We were able to bring our Magic Lantern Shows, Wet Plate Photography, and Telegraph to Columbia State Historic Park for the "Miner's Christmas" event.
Here was our performance area. They said we were the first group to ever use the new building. Matt operated the lantern, Brandon made Tintypes, and we hoodwinked Shannon's dad into keeping an eye on the telegraph. We had about 600 visitors and Matt was performing non-stop. We didn't have time to take out our cameras for photos but took a couple when the crowds were gone.
Matt built the tripod from scratch for use with his whole plate camera. (The one below the screen). Though it also worked
quite well for the lantern. The trunk holding the lanterns is one we use
to carry our equipment. The one on the right is a custom camera case we built for as well. It served well as a bench for kids to
sit on to watch the show.
The screen is just a simple piece of canvas nailed
to the wall. All the windows had shutters so we could close them to keep
the screen reasonably dark.
We set the Telegraph up outside the building to draw
folks into the room. We didn't have a table so we just clamped it to
the rails. The setup was a little bit odd but it did a great job
attracting folks to the venue. Kids always love playing with the
telegraph. "How do you backspace?"
We also set up the Tintype studio and Darkroom
inside the building. Guests got to experience a little bit of ether
smell with their magic lantern show, but it made a nice opportunity to
demonstrate multiple technologies at once. Getting to operate the
tintype booth inside is a great luxury. No more dust, pine needles, and
wind interfering.
Overall, it was a great event. Keeping all three demonstrations running for the public can be challenging, but we got a lot of positive feedback from the crowd and look forward to doing it again.
Happy Holidays to everyone from the Schnittker Family!!!
