Photos of Typewriters for the Typewriter Database

In addition to the ton of resources (serial numbers, manuals, repair manuals, manufacturing data, typefaces, patents, etc.) provided by TypewriterDatabase.com, one of the primary features provided are the wonderful photos users upload of their typewriters. 

These photos have lots of uses from basic identification to showing historical conditions of machines or highlighting immaculate restoration work. They also allow tracking changes in manufacturing methods and materials over time as well as documenting machines which may eventually become so rare as to eventually fade from memory beyond their archiving on the site.

One of the difficult parts of documenting your own models on the site seems to be getting a good “hero” or primary photo of your machine to represent it in various locations within the database. (The database labels them “Main front-face Typewriter” in the user interface.) This primary photo is usually the first one you upload and it is used in the “Most Recently Edited Typewriter Galleries” on the front page which shows thumbnail photographs, in individual model galleries, in the various “Grid View” (GRD), “Typewriter Porn View” (TPV), and the “Serious Research Views” (SRV) provided by the database. This primary photo is the one that represents each machine in almost all of the main areas of the database and is usually the one that draws viewers and researchers into its individual gallery to find out more detail about it. 

Sadly, most of these primary photos seem to be taken and thrown up onto the database and the manner in which they’re presented is far from ideal. They’re often off-center, appear to be close up shots of random typewriter parts, or just plain unidentifiable. Even the so-called TPV or “Typewriter Porn View” photos are far from their descriptor; many would turn you off of a model altogether regardless of whether it’s a stunning Sholes and Glidden, a well-tuned Hermes, or a truly dreadful We R Memory Keepers plastic doorstop.

A 4 column by 3 row grid of typewriter photos mostly featuring a hodgepodge of angles and mostly just keys. The bottom right corner features a nice full view of a Royal Quiet De Luxe. It definitely stands out from the rest.
Which of these photos is not like the others?

 

So the question is, how can we easily make these primary photos into the “hero” or typewriter porn photos they’re really meant to be? The secret lies in how the photo is laid out originally so that when it’s uploaded, all of these views are immediately accommodated. The Typewriter Database automatically crops photos down in a simple grid format to generate all of the thumbnails and custom views. Knowing exactly what it’s doing will allow you to take a simple, straightforward photo and upload it so that everything looks perfect without needing to modify or edit anything at all. (This also makes it simpler for lots of photos to be uploaded more quickly.)

For the Main front-face Typewriter photo, the database is expecting a landscape photo roughly broken up into imaginary thirds both horizontally and vertically splitting the image into nine rectangles. If you imagine a tic-tac-toe grid imposed on your photo as you take it, you’ve got the right idea. These days, most cameras and smartphones actually have software settings that will superimpose imaginary grids just like this onto your screen which makes doing this even easier. The diagram below will give you an idea of what I mean.

With this 3 x 3 grid imagined on your picture, center your typewriter exactly in the middle square. This center square is exactly what the database will display as the square thumbnail or “grid view” photo. 

Next for the same picture consider only the three rectangles horizontally across the center of the picture. These three will become the TPV or “Typewriter Porn View” photo that’s displayed in the various galleries.

3 x 3 grid drawn onto a white index card. In the center square is a pencil sketch of a typewriter. In the rectangle just to the left of it is an overlay of where the TWdB overlays one's avatar and typewriter information.

After you’ve taken the photo you’re going to feel as if there’s a lot of wasted space. When you look at it, it’s going to feel like the typewriter almost isn’t there. Why is it so small and lonely in the picture? But things will improve dramatically when you upload it and look at it in all the database views. Your sexy typewriter is going to shine online like it never would have before. Because you’ve done a little bit of planning, all those custom views are going to automatically look as lovely as you intended them to.

When uploaded, this photo 

An oak library card catalog with a cream and black Remington 666 typewriter featured in the middle and flanked by two stuffed Halloween characters. At the back of the catalog is a magnum of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and a crystal old fashioned glass with ice and whisky. The bottle of Fireball features a black label with a red flaming devil on it coordinating with the bright red ribbon in the typewriter which is emblazoned with the model number "666" in red across its front.

becomes this thumbnail grid photo

A thumbnail grid photo of a Remington 666 typewriter which fills the frame of the photo

and this TPV photo

A wide shot of a well-framed Remington 666 typewriter flanked by two small quirky, kawaii stuffed animals (one a white ghost and the other a black cat). On the far left is an overlay with details about the typewriter and an avatar of the collector.

Would you rather see this:

A grouping of three Typewriter Porn Views of three different typewriters which look well displayed and sexy.

Or this:

A landscape photo of a cheap plastic Petite Ultra 400 typewriter, but the typewriter is horribly framed and we're given a close up of the label ad the typebasket and a small portion of the top row of keys. It's generally an unappealing photo.

 

Pro TWdB tip: If you’ve got an account and you’re logged in, you’ll see indicators of which galleries have been recently commented on and how many comments they’ve got. This is where some of the smartest people in the typosphere can often be found hiding in plain sight. The database doesn’t have a notification system, but this is as close as it gets.

Other photos to consider

Once you’ve figured out your hero photo, you may ask yourself what other sorts of photos you might want to include in your gallery. Naturally having front, sides, back, top and some oblique angle views are excellent ideas. It’s often useful to include other photos researchers might appreciate or have specific uses for. These additional gallery photos are all displayed full-sized as you’ve uploaded them, so you don’t have to worry as much about any cropping worries or issues when you’re taking them. Just focus on getting great photos.

Does the typewriter have a special font? If it does, definitely include a close up photo or two of the type slugs so that people can see the small foundry markings between the two (or more) characters on each slug. This may help to better identify typefaces in the future. 

Close up of the typeslugs on the lefthand side of the basket on a 1952 Royal Quiet De Luxe with a Vogue typeface. The keys feature the letters and symbols from Q through X including the distinctive overlap of the center crossing lines of the capital W. Between characters on each the slugs are stamped with a small letter "v".
This close up allows one to see the “V” on the typeface indicating that it’s an uncommon Royal Vogue machine.

Does the typewriter have special features? If so, get close up photos of them. 

Does the typewriter have a custom paint job? Show it off with lots of photos and close ups. Most of my liked photo galleries on the database are machines with lush custom paint jobs.

Did you clean and service the typewriter yourself? Take photos of the process as well as close ups of pieces that needed extra attention or had tricky configurations. These can help guide people to know what regular configuration and morphology ought to look like on their models when compared with the broken versions they may have in front of them. These photos can be useful to other users for diagnosing problems they may have. While you’re at it, take a photo or two of the bottom of the machine. 

Close up of the Magic Margin springs on a naked 1952 Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter
The threading of the Magic Margin spring on a Royal QDL

Maybe you took a “naked” photo of the machine while it had the shell, platen, and keys off for cleaning? These can be useful for dating changes in internal configuration and features over time as much as changes in design features on the shells themselves.

Close up of a naked 1952 Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter seen from an oblique view.

Where is the typewriter’s serial number? Often people can’t identify their particular model, but can take guesses. If your gallery includes a photo of the serial number along with some context about where you found it on the machine, it might help them find theirs so they can better date their year of manufacture. (A close up of a number that doesn’t show were it was on the machine doesn’t help much.) Who knows, it may even help you later when you can’t remember where you found it yourself? Changes in serial number location within series can also be a useful indicator of factory retooling or factory moves over time. 

Cases, cases, cases. Did your portable or ultra portable come with a case? Don’t forget to take photos of those as well. Cases definitely changed over time and having photos of the original case and its condition can be helpful for those attempting to replace theirs. They can also be helpful when damaged ones need repair or restoration work. What does the connecting hardware look like inside them? Did they come with manuals, or additional tools? Add those in too! Did you restore your case? Leave before and after photos. 

Ribbon threading photos! Where are those?! While we have a wide variety of typewriter manuals available, it can be illustrative to have a close up photo of how your machine’s ribbon was properly threaded. Users of forums everywhere can more quickly and easily answer ribbon questions of others in the community if you’ve added good photos of the spools and how the ribbon was threaded.

Smith-Corona typewriter ribbon thread sample with ribbon coming out of a spool on the left, through a black ribbon guide next to the spool cup (which actuates the autoswitch when the eyelet at the end of a spool gets stuck between it and the spool), and then into the two metal guides at the typing point.
Having trouble threading your 5 Series Smith-Corona? Here’s what it ought to look like for the Clipper, Sterling, Silent, and Silent Supers.

Have you done research on the machine in its natural environment? Maybe you’ve researched newspaper or magazine advertisements from when the typewriter was released which tout its features and have original sales prices listed? Why not include photos of these important historical data points?

What other photos are we missing or forgetting that would be nice to have in the database? Drop a note in the comments.

Followed Norman Walsh (so.nwalsh.com)

Norman Walsh headshot Structured markup geek. Programmer. Photographer. Author. XML. DocBook. XProc. XSLT. XQuery.
I am currently an employee of MarkLogic Corporation where I’m an engineer. I work out of my home in Austin, TX. Previously, I was employed by Sun Microsystems, Arbortext, and O’Reilly Media (then O’Reilly & Associates).

Read Trifecta at Twilight (science.nasa.gov)
On February 18, as civil twilight began in northern New Mexico skies, the International Space Station, a waning crescent Moon, and planet Mars for a moment shared this well-planned single field of view. From the photographer's location the sky had just begun to grow light, but the space station orbiting 400 kilometers above the Earth was already bathed in the morning sunlight. At 6:25am local time it took less than a second to cross in front of the lunar disk moving right to left in the composited successive frames. At the time, Mars itself had already emerged from behind the Moon following its much anticipated lunar occultation. The yellowish glow of the Red Planet is still in the frame at the upper right, beyond the Moon's dark edge.
Read Announcing Mimi Uploader for Micro.blog hosted blogs by Sam (samgrover.com)
I’m very excited to announce the launch and availability of my new app, Mimi Uploader. Mimi is designed from the ground up to enable super fast uploading of photos from your device to your Micro.blog hosted blogs. Utilize Mimi to upload a set of photos for making your blog post. Maybe a road trip, or a party, or memories of a special day.
Listened to Episode 5: Caring What You're Sharing by Dr Laurie SantosDr Laurie Santos from The Happiness Lab

Sharing a good experience with another human deepens our enjoyment of the moment... but only if we abide by certain rules. Dr Laurie Santos shows us how we often get 'sharing' wrong and explains how we can all derive more happiness from ice cream, sunsets and a night in front of the TV.

Maryellis Bunn’s website

Erica Boothby website

Museum of Ice Cream website

Alix Barash website

There is some interesting discussion about exploring and interacting with the world here both with and without a camera and/or digital phone or other device in one’s hand. 

The research and examples in this episode could be useful  for UX/UI  designers in the social media and IndieWeb spaces. The ideas presented here could help us in designing interactions on the web for people in a much happier and healthier fashion. I particularly likes the concept that a museum specifically redesigned some of it’s exhibits so as to be able to minimize the use of phones and increase the human-to-human interaction.

The questions of whether we’re posting content for ourselves or to share with others is an intriguing one. I tend to post for myself (and my memory via my commonplace book) first in almost all cases. When I’m taking photos or checking in, I almost always do it in a way so as to minimize as much as possible the distraction of doing so to others. It’s exceptionally rare that I spend the time and effort to get the “perfect” photo when I’m with others in public.

The discussion about the museum experience being designed for or against photography and the research relating to memories of the experiences reminds a lot of Matt Maldre’s recent experience with a museum security guard who urged patrons to get their phones out and take close up photos of artworks. [#] She obviously intuitively knew something that the rest of us could have only guessed at. Or perhaps she’s just been reading all the most cutting-edge research and putting it into practice in her own work?

This also reminds me I ought to call Dan Cohen and have a conversation about these sort of design concepts (and particularly those relating to Frances Yates and memory techniques) for his forthcoming library.

Read Blogger Gets Slammed For Committing Ultimate Instagram Sin (comedy.com)
It’s no secret that bloggers, vloggers and pretty much anyone on social media tend to ‘bend the truth’ a little bit. There are countless apps you can download to turn your very average photo into what looks like photographic gold. With a little tweaking and cropping, a few saturation and contrast adjustments, you can fake just about anything. This may have become a trend that caught on a little too well. Johanna Olsson is one of the many bloggers who have photoshopped her images to suit the theme of her page. In an attempt to gain points for her reputation, her photo-shopping mishap caused her more publicity than she could have ever imagined. However, it was not for the reasons she was hoping.

👓 There’s Nothing Wrong With Posing for Photos at Chernobyl | Taylor Lorenz | The Atlantic

Read There’s Nothing Wrong With Posing for Photos at Chernobyl by Taylor Lorenz (The Atlantic)
Influencer-style pictures are simply the way we document our lives now.
Strip away the headline and the social media influencer angle which is a canard.

There’s an interesting societal shift happening here in photography. For counterpoint, compare this with Pictures of Death: Postmortem Photography by Nancy West (The Atlantic).

👓 Open Your Mouth Very Wide | Peter Rukavina

Read Open Your Mouth Very Wide by Peter RukavinaPeter Rukavina (ruk.ca)

I read somewhere—perhaps it was “5 Tips to Instantly Up Your Instagram Game” or some such—that, when taking photos of people, you should ask them to open their mouths as wide as possible.

Interestingly, it works. It seems weird, both to them and to you, but the photos that result often have much more life in them than they would otherwise.

I received similar instructions many years ago from a CBC Radio producer: I was going into the studio to record a commentary, and she advised me to make my points so emphatically as to appear (to myself) to be raving. It was very hard to do this, and it made me very uncomfortable, but I had to agree that the result was better.

An interesting piece of photography advice… I like the caricature advice for audio as well. It was something that obviously worked for people like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly.

🎧 “The Daily”: The Photo of the Yemeni Girl | New York Times

Listened to "The Daily": The Photo of the Yemeni Girl from New York Times

The story behind a portrait that brought a widely overlooked human catastrophe into devastating focus.

👓 Trio | Khürt Williams

Read TRIO by Khürt Williams (islandinthenet.com)

We’ve all heard of the rules of thirds but have you heard of the rule of three?

The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that a trio of events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers in [the] execution of the story and engaging the reader. The reader or audience of this form of text is also thereby more likely to remember the information conveyed. This is because having three entities combines both brevity and rhythm with having the smallest amount of information to create a pattern. It makes the author or speaker appear knowledgeable while being both simple and catchy.WIKIPEDIA

Although a writing principle, one of my photography instructors, Loren Fisher, has suggested using this principle when composing images with more than one object of focus.

I’ve been trying to use this principle in my images.

This image was captured earlier this year near South Street Seaport during my lunch break. I used my Fuji X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR and shot using an ACROS Film Simulation Recipe by Ritchie Roesch.

Some interesting theory about both photography and narrative structure with a great little photo to underline it all.

🔖 Unsplash | Beautiful Free Images & Pictures

Bookmarked Unsplash | Beautiful Free Images & Pictures (unsplash.com)
Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.

👓 Selfies at Funerals | The Atlantic

Read Selfies at Funerals by James Hamblin (The Atlantic)
A new Tumblr compiles self-portraits taken at funerals and shared with the world. Here are a few, interspersed with more traditional efforts at celebrating life and publicly reflecting on mortality.
An interesting and excellent follow-on from the prior story I read. Somehow the older mores of photographing and arranging the dead seem at least connected to those we’ve lost whereas some of these funeral selfies or so-called “caskies” they don’t seem to be mourning much of anything except the minute amounts of fame they may be losing.

👓 Pictures of Death: Postmortem Photography | The Atlantic

Read Pictures of Death: Postmortem Photography by Nancy West (The Atlantic)
When photography was new, it was often used to preserve corpses via their images. An Object Lesson
Fascinating to read about some of the cultural shifts and norms in our society over the past century or so.