Postcard Exchange Round 66 Comments and Feedback

[hwv]

Last week, I received two postcards.
@Simon I sent me a wonderful lith print: a cemetery overgrown with grasses. The photo beautifully captures the transience of all existence. The brown tones and the contrast of the lith print further emphasize this sense of impermanence.
@AnselMortensen "At Ease" A very well-developed large-format photograph of people who appear relaxed and cheerful as they create a large-format photo of a soldier. Since I am a native German speaker and didn’t know the term “at ease,” I had it translated. ChatGPT suggested „entspannt“, „ruhig“, „wohlfühlen“ or „unbefangen“, „gelassen“ as possible translations — all descriptions that I also see reflected in the image.
As an additional translation in a military context, there’s also „Rührt euch!“, the opposite of "Stillgestanden!" — which makes this a perfect title for this photo.

 

[Ajven]

Today I received:
"White Bay Power Station" by @gbroadbridge - the beauty of old machines - no displays, no keyboards. Gauges, switches, aligned in mystic order. I like old machines. Thank you for this postcard!
"At Ease" by @AnselMortensen - contact prints look always incredible, full of details. Quite curious how old is the negative. And I agree with hwv - perfect title for the postcard. By the way this is the first time I received a postcards from USA without rounded post stamp "USA Forever" - so extra kudos for the stamps with different motive! Thank you.

This round I'm a little behind my schedule. Still no picture selected for postcard....

 

[Don_ih]

I received At Ease by @AnselMortensen, also. I discovered that the ink the post office smears on the print rubs off pretty easily. I like the photo - I like found negatives (I have a pile of them). I am a bit curious about the marking on the back of the postcard - namely, the line that bisects the card. If you'd care to elaborate?

It's very odd for me to start receiving cards before I even send mine. I don't think it's ever happened. Between the postal strike and being kinda busy, I haven't been taking many photos - and I tend to only ever want to use new photos for postcards. Perhaps next week....

 

[AnselMortensen]

Hi, @Don_ih,
Some prints were attached to pre-made postcard 'backing stickers', for others I just used Avery mailing label material after I ran out of the pre-printed type. .
I suspect yours has the pre-printed version.
Cheers!

 

[Don_ih]

pre-made postcard 'backing stickers'

Interesting - I've never heard of such a thing. I can't even tell it's a sticker.

 

[rduraoc]

Today I got three (3!) postcards in my mailbox:
@AnselMortensen 's "At ease" contact print, @Jim Christie 's digitally printed "Too many Wheelbarrows" (paper texture is wonderful), and @vbenares 's "Clouds & Mountains" sent using Touchnote. 3 very different approaches, which help make the PCX a great experience.

 

[Daniela]

I also got @AnselMortensen 's "At ease". Lovely crisp print and so many questions about the depicted situation! I'm glad there was someone else with a camera there.

By the way, what's up with the two swords printed over the stamps? I've never seen that before...

 

[AnselMortensen]

By the way, what's up with the two swords printed over the stamps? I've never seen that before...

Sometimes the US Postal service does thematic postmarks...for holidays, Earth Day, etc.
Maybe it is one of those...not sure about swords, though...

 

[Daniela]

Sometimes the US Postal service does thematic postmarks...for holidays, Earth Day, etc.
Maybe it is one of those...not sure about swords, though...

Here's a picture. Poor little squirrels LOL Actually, looking at it more closely, I think it was just supposed to be two (strange) lines, but the ink got caught on the edge of the stamps (you can see it in the first four)

 

[Don_ih]

I just received Too Many Wheelbarrows from @Jim Christie --- and that sure is too many wheelbarrows. Very cool photo. However, I think someone dropped it on the floor and stomped on it a few times on its way here. Part of the photo is totally scuffed off and there are numerous folds. It has battle scars.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Here's a picture. Poor little squirrels LOL Actually, looking at it more closely, I think it was just supposed to be two (strange) lines, but the ink got caught on the edge of the stamps (you can see it in the first four)

View attachment 410295

Aha!...that is the result of someone cancelling the stamps with a marker.
Barbaric!

 

[mfohl]

Got two nice cards today. absalom1951's "Bent Railing". A nice scene from a wooded area where there is what's left of a metal protective fence rail. It's more than bent, it's broken in places. And Michael Howard's "Smith Mountain". This is a (very) desolate area in California with a mountain in the background. According to the card, there was silver and gold mining here. And the card mentions the living conditions, which would be extremely difficult. Folks back then must have been made of tougher stuff. Thanks Tom, thanks Michael.

 

[Ajven]

Aha!...that is the result of someone cancelling the stamps with a marker.
Barbaric!

My squirrels arrived clean and safe!

 

[AnselMortensen]

^^^ Excellent!

 

[Ajven]

Yesterday I received "Too Many WheelBarrows" by @Jim Christie : 24 hours ago and I'm still wondering how is possible to stack this amount of wheelbarrows.. Nice and fun postcard. Thank you very much!