Manila in the 1970's - old photos, new technology

[Vische]

These are treasured photos, you can exhibit this, if you been to Ilocos in Marcos Museum there are some pictures way back. Nice pictures

[grahamw48]

I see the girls were just as gorgeous back then.

[stevewool]

I see the girls were just as gorgeous back then.

indeed

[tone]

Greeeeaaat Pics there!
I can see why your profile says "complicated" haha serious, great pics!

Thanks for posting these up!
Tone

[Doc Alan]

I see the girls were just as gorgeous back then.

There was me trying to get photos of churches and other scenes . It's quite a thought that those girls must be well over 50 now .

[Doc Alan]

Doc Allan you seem to go all around Manila when you went here, and you are really good looking if i may say

Thanks Vische - you might have meant " were " ... that was 34 years ago . Do you mean my pictures should be donated to the museum ( or me ) ?
You're correct, Manila was greener then. But I still remember being horrified at the traffic, and congratulating taxi drivers for getting me safely to hospitals and other destinations. Driving in Kuala Lumpur was relatively safe ! I did travel by jeepney - sometimes there was no choice especially during a thunderstorm.

[Doc Alan]

Greeeeaaat Pics there!
I can see why your profile says "complicated" haha serious, great pics!

Thanks Tone . The transparencies were each glass-mounted and kept in a filing cabinet. At last technology has caught up, so the images can be preserved on disc after all these years.
I never imagined that one day they would be of interest and I'm grateful to everyone for viewing and commenting
As for the " complicated " profile, at least my career was single minded .

[Rosie1958]

Fantastic photos Doc Alan, very interesting to see how Manila was back in 1970s. I bet your female patients and their relatives were delighted to have such a dashingly handsome doctor You also haven't changed that much, can still see it's you!

[Arthur Little]

... who's the handsome young fella standing amidst the trio of beauties outside the Santo Tomas Medical School, I ask myself?

Great reproductions, Alan ... with Steve - they're like coloured picture postcards of the period - a time when the original version of the Volkswagen Beetle reigned supreme. Talking of cars, the traffic - particularly in the Makati Business District - back in 1978 looks very much less congested than it is nowadays. And I relished seeing the slide featuring the horse~drawn carriage ... evidence of a throwback to a bygone era.

Thanks for sharing these marvellous memoirs.

[Doc Alan]

Thanks to everyone for viewing and posting . Three modern views for comparison, and an idea of how times have changed :-
In 1978 population of Philippines was 46 million, with 7 pesos / US dollar ( 14 pesos / GB Pound ).
There had been martial law since 1972, so the incumbent president Ferdinand Marcos ruled by decree. For a visitor like me, it was hard to detect any restrictions, and at first I didn’t realise how much the press was controlled by Marcos and his cronies.
" Ninoy "Aquino ( late father of the current President ) was allowed to take part in elections - from his prison cell. He urged his supporters to run a number of candidates in Metro Manila. His political party, Lakas ng Bayan ("People's Power" / Laban , or " fight " in Tagalog ), would probably have won in an honest election .
In fact Marcos had formed the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Movement)
winning most votes and 80% of seats ( Laban 10% votes, no seats ) .

( UK - 1978 - Louise Brown, the world's first IVF baby, was born. Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident, was murdered by an umbrella with a poison pellet. Bee Gees dominated the charts thanks to their soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever; others being Boney M (Rivers of Babylon), Paul McCartney (Mull of Kintyre), and Kate Bush (Wuthering Heights) ). Philippines, two singers - still around now - were Claire, with “ Sayang “ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpNUN-a23fo and “Sharon Cuneta with “ Mr DJ “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok2z_zGDsQY .

( MOA = Mall of Asia did not exist in 1978 ! )

2011 view of Makati City and Pasig River.

With Aegis Band at Zirkoh, Greenhills, San Juan - 2010. Only around since the 90's.

[mikey73]

great photos doc alan, thank you for sharing them with us

[Terpe]

It's always fascinating, for me, to see 'city-scapes' of a bygone era.
At my age I'm also able to recall 'then and now' photo's.

It's amazing how quiet the streets of Manila appear back then, although I'm sure it wasn't quite so.

I must say it's great to be able to get photo's digitised. The originals are always prone to deterioration no matter how well looked after.
I'm doing something similar myself with some old family photo's.
Need to learn much more about the capabilitites of Photoshop.

Good luck with your project Alan. Stick at it.

[Steve.r]

Yes the city shots are very interesting, everything looks so clean and dare I say 'organised' Keep them coming Al.

[Doc Alan]

Thanks Mickcant, Rosie, Arthur, Mikey, Terpe and Steve.r

I appreciate everyone's encouraging and supportive comments .

[Arthur Little]

At my age I'm also able to recall 'then and now' photo's.

... me too !!

I must say it's great to be able to get photo's digitised. The originals are always prone to deterioration no matter how well looked after.

... AMAZING the "strides" forward there've been in photography since OUR youth, Peter - from the old black & white 'Ilford Film', 'Kodak', and '*Velox' snaps (*invariably taken using a 'Brownie' box camera) ... thru' Polaroid - right up to today's small digital cameras and suchlike.

[Arthur Little]

Considering - or maybe because - my late first wife, Iris was a professional [Studio] photographer (and her paternal grandfather supposedly patented a type of camera shutter in the last decade of the 19th Century!) I just never really got around to taking it up ... even as a hobby ... to my eternal shame.

That's not to say, I don't take photos when on my travels. ... I do! But, for some inexplicable reason, I simply haven't been able to muster up the same amount of enthusiasm for it as the Gordon family.

[Vische]

Thanks Vische - you might have meant " were " ... that was 34 years ago . Do you mean my pictures should be donated to the museum ( or me ) ?
You're correct, Manila was greener then. But I still remember being horrified at the traffic, and congratulating taxi drivers for getting me safely to hospitals and other destinations. Driving in Kuala Lumpur was relatively safe ! I did travel by jeepney - sometimes there was no choice especially during a thunderstorm.

very funny Doc, ofcourse not, the pictures is a treasure that you can share to other people hahaha but you definitely stayed as dashing as you where from then the only change maybe is your hair turns white now great photos Doc

[Doc Alan]

No one noticed - including me, until a friend pointed it out - that I originally posted this photo the wrong way round . Of course traffic has always driven on the right in the Philippines .
Neither Photobucket nor my slide scanner are smart enough to tell me " wrong way round " - no matter how good modern technology there's still room for human error .
I didn't label the slide 34 years ago ( too many Christmas parties and filipinas distracting me ) so I still don't know which road this was.

[KeithD]

Most of it still looks the same if you just add traffic

[raynaputi]

No one noticed - including me, until a friend pointed it out - that I originally posted this photo the wrong way round . Of course traffic has always driven on the right in the Philippines .
Neither Photobucket nor my slide scanner are smart enough to tell me " wrong way round " - no matter how good modern technology there's still room for human error .
I didn't label the slide 34 years ago ( too many Christmas parties and filipinas distracting me ) so I still don't know which road this was.

This is along Manila City Hall...as you can see the tower with the clock at the far right of the picture.

[Doc Alan]

This is along Manila City Hall...as you can see the tower with the clock at the far right of the picture.

Salamat Rayna

[Dedworth]

Looks like the Jeepneys have been stretched since then

[Terpe]

How I wish I still had all my slides. For a good 20 years I only used transparancy film. Often I would process my own using Ferrania, bought in bulk and reloaded into cassettes. All the storage boxes with my slides were destroyed in an accident. That's a good part of my lifes memory reminders. Sad, when I think about it.
That's one reason I'm taking time and care to digitize all the prints I still have.

It does take quite some time to get good results but it's worth the effort and I get tremendous enjoyment from recalling the memories.

[grahamw48]

I've now uploaded to PC digitised versions of most of my old pics , using my negative scanner.

[Terpe]

I've now uploaded to PC digitised versions of most of my old pics , using my negative scanner.

Funny you should say that. I've been considering getting one. Scanning the prints is nice quality but takes a bit of time to get the correct quality and result.

Graham, how do you find this negative scanner?
Quality? Ease of use? time etc?

Sorry Doc for slight off-topic, hope you don't mind too much

[grahamw48]

Ok, reading off the box it is a *Ion Film 2 SD Mk2

(probably you'll get all the details if you google search that).

It has its own memory card and power supply and is connected to PC with usb for uploading.

You can also do some adjustment to the pictures before you upload them.

It accepts negatives...strips of about 6 at a time, or slides.

I've found it simple to operate, and results are excellent.....but make sure the negs are really clean !

I think I paid £69 for it....from Maplins.

[Rosie1958]

I have lots of photo slides taken in 1970s of Hong Kong and did see a reader/ scanner in Maplins at the beginning of this year. Thanks for the reminder, I think that buying one of these is a great investment and will do so before long too.

[Doc Alan]

It’s not off topic Peter, I’m glad of the interest in the topic . I’m only sorry you lost your slides. Thanks Graham for your helpful post, I know you have experience in this field . Just seen your post also, Rosie !
I have thousands of carefully glass-mounted slides – family, travel, and images ( old photographs, postcards of historical interest ) copied with a Carl Zeiss macro lens attached to a Contax camera, using a photographic stand. For black and white images, Agfa made the only film available. But these had to be projected onto a screen with a Kodak Carousel projector. If the slides ( also known as diapositives or transparencies ) are not protected they fade and get damaged. Similarly finding replacement parts or repairing a projector is increasingly difficult and expensive – Jessops wanted £150 before even accepting it, and luckily a friend was able to repair it.

I was encouraged by Steve.r to try Photobucket. It really is straightforward to make albums here, and (1) “ hovering “ the mousepad over any picture, ( 2) then clicking on IMG ( " image " tag ), allows them to be ( 3 ) copied, then ( 4 ) pasted to a forum post or elsewhere.
My slide and negative scanner was a gift, but the links below show the make, choice, and source of scanner. It was £ 43.49 from Play.com , a marked reduction from what they used to cost. Uploading is instant – unlike the slow uploading from scanners only a few years ago. It’s simple – but labour-intensive – to use. The images can be saved to “ My Pictures “ or elsewhere on your computer. If you’re wanting to upload to social network sites like facebook, or e mail as attachments to friends, you can do so from your computer without using Photobucket.
http://www.veho-world.com/main/shop....gory=slidescan
http://www.play.com/Search.html?sear...pe=allproducts
www.photobucket.com

[Rosie1958]

Fantastic, thanks for that Doc Alan!

[Doc Alan]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_15espw5ij9_b

While slides or negatives give best results if you have them, it’s straightforward to copy and /or restore prints, then scan them to your computer. You need first to install software for the scanner on the computer. There they can be saved in “ My Pictures “ , for example; copied to an album on Photobucket; or copied to a disc ( CD-R with 700 MB memory or DVD-R with 4.7 GB memory ). Multipurpose scanners / printers such as those in the link are relatively cheap, although printing ink cartridges are expensive.
We used to say “ the camera never lies “ – certainly nowadays the originals can be easily modified !