dkthompson

Bus used by NC NAACP members to protest wrongful conviction prison terms in the state. The organization mounted a months long 24/7 protest outside the NC Executive Mansion championing Dontae Sharpe at first, then following his pardon, several others were added to their list. Bus seen here parked in the lot on Jones & Blount, Dec. 21, 2021. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

#Horizontal messaging on the side of the NC NAACP's bus during a year long protest outside the NC Executive Mansion over the wrongful conviction of Dontae Sharp, Raleigh NC, Dec. 2021. Sharp spent 26 yrs in prison for murder he didn't commit, was pardoned in 2021 by Gov. Roy Cooper. #BlueSkyArtShow

Tire Supply facade, Harrington Street, Raleigh NC 2015. this side now features a Carolina Hurricanes mural. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

The Harrington street side of the old Tire Supply building at end of Lane Street, Raleigh NC, 2015. The longtime tire service for commercial vehicles and downtown state employees closed up shop to be bought out by a city transit project. #Horizontal #BlueSkyArtShow

Black Lives Matter signage, “The George Floyds of Raleigh” posted to boarded up windows on the old Kimbrell’s Furniture building, 210 Fayetteville Street, in downtown Raleigh NC, May 18, 2021. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

A passerby stops to read the #Horizontal signage making up Black Lives Matter “The George Floyds of Raleigh” exhibit on the old Kimbrell’s Furniture building, 210 Fayetteville Street, in downtown Raleigh NC, May 18, 2021. #BlueSkyArtShow

IBMA "Wide Open Bluegrass Festival", Raleigh NC, Sept. 27, 2019. (The Gibson Bros.) DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

A dobro, like a lap steel or steel guitar, is played in the #Horizontal orientation with steel finger picks and a slide.The Gibson Bros. at IBMA "Wide Open Bluegrass Festival", Raleigh NC, Sept. 27, 2019. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH #BlueSkyArtShow

Dexter Romweber, one half of the band the Flat Duo Jets, lays flat on the stage of the Milestone Club, Charlotte NC ca. 1985. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

A #Horizontal Dexter Romweber lays on stage during a performance with his band the Flat Duo Jets at the Milestone Club, Charlotte NC ca. 1985. Romweber was a long time fixture of the NC music scene since the early 1980s, he passed away in 2024 leaving behind a roots rock legacy. #BlueSkyArtShow

Police tape blocking Hillsborough Street intersection with Salisbury as the Confederate monument is removed from the NC State Capitol grounds after protesters attempted to pull it down several nights earlier, June 22, 2020. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

#Horizontal Police tape blocking Hillsborough Street near the intersection with Salisbury, as the Confederate monument is removed from the State Capitol grounds after protesters attempted to pull it down several nights earlier, Raleigh NC, June 22, 2020. #BlueSkyArtShow

Marquee with Covid-19 message, Rialto Theater, 1620 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh NC, March. 20, 2020. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Marquee with a #Horizontal message at the start of the Covid-19 shutdown, the Rialto Theater off Glenwood Ave. near Five Points, Raleigh NC, March 2020. #BlueSkyArtShow DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Signs laid out on the ground in front of protesters at the "Triangle Climate Strike"--Halifax Mall, Raleigh NC, Sept. 20, 2019. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

A vertical view of a #Horizontal moment when protesters at the "Triangle Climate Strike" in Raleigh NC, 2019, laid their signs out on the ground for an overhead group photo. #BlueSkyArtShow DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CHsigns

Cat in the canton

127 Kodak Gold 200

leftover 127 film

these are old spools, mix of 127 and 620 mainly.

some of those reels were 127 and the lone plastic Paterson was able to go to 127 as well. I gave away a huge amount of stainless, more than this including about two dozen Hewes reels and racks up thru 8x10 along with tanks. these were the "odd" lots

back when I was fooling around with it you could still get 127 in a few stocks, but I didn't like what was available. I had 127 stainless steel reels, and 127 carrier for an Omega DII enlarger. that's one thing I had in my old darkroom was the ability to work with odd formats. I gave that stuff away

yep. it’s a PIA to try to trim 120 down to 127 and respool, been there done that

Is dry work. Can be very clinical and boring. I have done some for work and also know the preservation photographers in the system. It’s a field to itself

The cemetery was interesting. made me think that would be another worthy project to explore since there are a lot of undocumented local and family cemeteries on the landscape. one of the books I used for reference turns out the material was all held by the archive I deal with. Historic preservation

It all led me places that I wouldn’t have explored otherwise

But I’m not for hire. I’m a company guy and my own work at this point is all focused on the archives. I have gotten into audio field recordings and ephemera collecting as well for provenance. The ephemera has wound up in the collection of where I work and the archive also.

Where I held copyright but gave them permission to use and I told them I would donate my work to the archives that hold my personal work. I read the historical guidelines for site documentation and approached it like you would for a historic preservation survey which isn’t my area but I know a bit

a former coworker asked me to hell out a preservation group a couple years ago and I did same. They had gotten a grant to do way finding signage for a historic Black cemetery. I took four days off work and went through the shot list they gave me for site documentation. We did an agreement

a reason. but if your trying to find a home for your work you need to look at themes or try to rationalize a value from the perspective of someone else. I wasn’t particularly fond of all my earlier work and harbored feelings for it that I had to deal with when others became interested. It’s odd biz

I always tell people working as a photographer gives you a front row seat. When I was younger it was a way to sort of deal with social anxiety I think but at the time I wouldn’t have thought that. A lot of times you don’t really think “why” you are taking a photo. thats okay there doesn’t have to be

I’m not interested in making a name for myself as much as providing a resource for academic use. the success for me is there. can it be of use within an institution. like I said I became a museum guy over a long period and having had to work on projects where we couldn’t find images opened my eyes

one part of my day job is to do photo research for exhibits and publications, and I am always coming up short. So whenever I see something in the wild, or if I think you know, nobody is covering this thing or genre--I do that. It has gotten me into things I never would have been interested in.

the state archives wanted the work also, but the archivists agreed that it would be easier for researchers to have it in one place. that opened up a decade or more of me self assigning work that I began to come up with and saw a possibility based on lack of content in other archives.

would touch it. I called it the "hot potato", there are "hot potatoes" we don't touch to this day. the music archive was interested when they found out because it was a social issue. I told them, oh I have been shooting protests for years, that was the editorial side, what I really wanted to do

what happened was the old music photography attracted an archive collecting just that. It happened around the same time I found myself "covertly" covering protests against the state gov't I worked for. there was interest in documenting that on the job side, but since it was so political nobody

I've been working as a photographer since my teens, and always for other people and doing their assignments. I started in editorial and then thru sorta dumb luck became a museum photographer. My thing was always music photography and I found I could trade for access & did work for fanzines & labels

goober with a Rolleiflex and top hat.

ha-here's another oldie that popped up on my FB memories today. this was at the Black Mountain music festival in 1987. Back in the Birkenstock days.

footnote is with media type. A lot of color negative is being used by film folks now and that isn’t particularly good for the archive. B&W will be better option. Digital also I know you’re all film but color negative needs cold storage and that is expensive. Money is always an issue

photos, even snapshots, hold so many clues to the past. Clothing, society, a building no longer there etc. a person long gone, maybe they grew up and became famous. who knows. We did an exhibit called “Look Again” that dealt with analyzing fine detail and the historical emphasis.

as a museum guy I added this. Because when you withhold rights to work it makes it difficult for the institution because they can’t actually use it and it takes money to archive for the long term. I told them I didn’t want to be “that guy”. But there is tremendous value to donating work because

I’m work for hire in a museum system so all that work goes into an archive. a little more than a decade ago I was approached by a university archive (govt) interested in my own work. I made an agreement with them to donate and transferred rights for non profit use but kept commercial rights