photo: jackie theriot
My cousin Karen and I are starting a new project. Our plan is to collect as many photographs of Catahoula as we can find, make high-resolution scans of those photographs, and upload them to a permanent on-line archive for all to enjoy.
Specifically, we're interested in photographs taken before the advent of digital photography. We hope to scan as many historical photographs as possible, but we're also interested in casual, everyday family snapshots. Anything, really. As long as it's a photograph taken in Catahoula with a film camera.
We're interested in seeing what pictures emerge when a community pools its old photographs together. It's been great to see everyone posting their photographs to Facebook. It's been an incredible reminder of the shared experience of growing up in Catahoula, and also a reminder of how fragile some of these old photographs are. I think it's important for us to preserve these images, and to bring them together in one place for future generations. In fact, it's hard for us to think of a better way to spend our time.
One hundred or so of the best, most representative images will be compiled into a hardcover book and published later this year, but for now we're in the collection phase. I'll be coming to Catahoula throughout the spring and summer to scan photographs. If you're interested in contributing your family photographs to the project, please drop me an e-mail at jetheriot@gmail.com. I'll be happy to bring my scanner to your house and scan your photographs right then and there.