Genealogical Research and Writing Plan for 2011- Get the books out

As the year 2011 begins, I am focusing on what will be my genealogical research and and writing plans for the coming year. Of course, the research will continue- checking off my long list of "to do" items. Actually, my genealogical computer program, Ancestral Quest, can print out a report of these research items. First thing I must do is edit this report, deleting those projects that have already been accomplished.

But most of all, I want to get my genealogical data and family history published. I've already spent much time posting the results of my studies on the Internet such as a Public Family Tree (Kramp Family) at Ancestry(dot)com, at web sites for both the paternal and maternal branches of my Tree (scroll down right side panel), and on this blog. I've also posted images to several Internet photo albums and uploaded videos to Youtube(dot)com and Roxio PhotoShow. However, I'm experienced enough to know that much of this information on the Internet is always in jeopardy of being lost. Some of you may remember the shut down of Yahoo's photo album feature. Others may remember the merge of Geocities with Yahoo and then the total removal of all content from their web site. I had to rush to transfer my Mother's genealogical web site to another server.

I believe that the BOOK is still the best means of preserving and passing on one's family history and genealogy. It circumvents the necessity of modifying your data to keep up with newer technological advances in the computer age- the so-called "migration" of data. Just yesterday, I discovered that I couldn't open a document created in an old version of Microsoft Word with the newest version. I finally got around the problem, but I do not want to worry about these glitches. And hey, realize your valuable documents and data are in an electronic environment. Now I ask you, have you ever seen an electron or held it in your hand. No thank you, I would rather have a book in my hands.

In late Spring of 2010, I created my first hard copy photograph albums, called PhotoBooks, at Snapfish(dot)com. See image below. I made one for Mother's Day which included dozens of photos taken throughout her life. Original photos were scanned and uploaded to Snapfish. Then, while on-line, I used templates to arrange from one to eight digital images on a page. The PhotoBook was then mailed to me and another copy mailed to my mother. A few weeks later, I created a PhotoBook of images of my late father.

From Life's Journey II

The image above shows three books (top) created at Snapfish(dot)com; two books (on right) created at Shutterfly(dot)com, and two books (on left) created at Blurb(dot)com. If you enlarge the image, you can read the titles. I have started a series of books in which each book includes images of a chosen decade, for example, photographs taken between 1930 and 1940, between 1940 and 1950 and so on. The book entitled, 1915-1941 was a mistake. I meant 1915 to 1930. Can you imagine creating an incorrect title. Big boo boo. I can correct the mistake on future editions.

The books were easy to create once I took a few hours to practice. The creating process for Blurb books was much more flexible- I could place the image and caption frames where I wanted them on each page. Also, I performed a free download of their "Smart Book" application to my computer's hard drive so that I could create and edit a book OFF-line before making the final submission for printing.

I passed copies of these books to my married children and was surprised to hear that they loved them. They usually roll their eyes to the back of their heads when I start taking family history. Particularly, they enjoyed going through the book in just one sitting.

As seen in the image below, I also gave a copy of the 1930-1940 book to my mother for her 90th birthday last November. She spent her teen-aged years in this decade. She is standing far right in the cover photograph.



So, in 2011, I hope to continue to self-publish these booklets which contain many vintage as well as recent photographs (digital copies) pertaining to my family history.

This blog entry was posted for the 101st Carnival of Genealogy for Geneabloggers.

REFERENCES AND LINKS:

Blurb(dot)com allows me to publicize my book, "What About Bob", on their Internet bookshelf. It is half genealogy, half autobiography, and short. If you want to leaf through the book, go to my next entry and click on the gadget at the bottom of the page.

YouTube(dot)com videos of my genealogy in Part I (me thru grandparents) and Part II (beyond grandparents). Forgive me the inappropriate background music- I had to be aware of copyrights. I need to redo this whole project, but not in 2011.

My public slide shows at Roxio PhotoShow on the Internet.

Vintage Baby pictures- HOLD STILL!

Chris, a friend of mine, was recently browsing an antique store in Barnegut, New Jersey, and found a magazine for collectors of postcards and other paper items. He mailed me a copy, because he knew that I enjoy collecting postcards which illustrate my family history. Incidentally, Chris collects old 45 rpm records; one time he tracked down a copy for me of Lee Dorsey's "Working in a Coal Mine". The song ends with the line, "Ohhh, I'm so tired".

In the studio photographs shown above, do you see the ghostly shape of another human being behind the baby- but hidden by a drape or curtain?

The January 2010 issue of The Paper and Advertising Collectors Marketplace (PAC CM) had an interesting article on "Uncovering the Hidden Mother (and Father) in Photographs. In the nineteenth century, exposure times for photographs were often measured by several seconds rather than fractions of a second as in modern cameras. So, how does a photographer hold a squirming baby down long enough to take an un-blurred picture- and still focus mainly on the baby? One way is to have the mother sit in a chair, hold the baby, and cover the mother's face with a drape or curtain.

The PAC CM magazine article mentioned several other techniques. In some cases, holes in the back of the chair were large enough for the mother to squat down and reach through the holes to hold the baby. A photographer named Fred Pohle invented a medal holder which babies were strapped into and held motionless for the photographer. Perhaps a less traumatic method was for the mother to hold the baby and then be cropped out of the picture during the processing or matting the picture so that the mother was hidden in the frame of the mounted photograph.

The article prompted me to go through my own photo collection looking for vintage baby pictures of my family to see if any of these techniques were used- particularly "Hidden mothers".

(click to enlarge; then use browser's "back" key)

Perhaps the oldest picture in my collection (see above) is that of my great grandparents, Thomas W. Russell and Eleanor, nee. Hartley, holding their second- and third- born children, Nicholson and Jane Ann or "Jenny". The date of the photo, 1880, is easy to pinpoint. Jenny was born in Sep 1879 and looks about a year old or less. The photo was taken at Schmiechen Studios in Sunderland, County Durham, England, and by Aug 1881, the family, or at least the father Thomas, had immigrated to Pennsylvania. In the picture you can see the parents have a pretty tight hold on the children, particularly holding their arms or tiny little hands.

Unfortunately, the first two children, both daughters, of Thomas and Eleanor died before this picture was taken. One daughter died at about a year; the other daughter, at 11 years. One of the points of the PAC CM article was that often pictures of children were taken because of the high infant mortality in the mid-19th century. The photographs served as reminders.

My great grandfather, Joseph Austel, had 10 children by his first wife, but only one child by his second wife, Rosa, nee. Friedrich. Rosa had a valued picture of the son, Paul, who died in 1904 at age 4 or 5 years. Rosa kept the photograph on an alter that she put together herself and placed at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor. She kept a candle burning on the alter. My mother remembers her grandmother praying at the makeshift alter, but somehow, the picture of Paul has been lost.

The two baby pictures above show my maternal grandfather, Charles Anton Gailliot, born 1894, and his first cousin, once removed, Mildred Ann "Millie" Gailliot, born 1907. Their common ancestors were Anton Gailliot and Johanna "Helena" Schlebusch. Both babies are propped on a chair and lay on what looks like sheep skins. Perhaps these shaggy foundations gave more warmth and comfort than if not present. Would that not have been a calming influence on a baby? In Millie's picture, on the right, there seems to be a folded piece of material behind her head. Could this be her "hidden mother". In certainly does not look like part of the chair. I like the cute way Millie is grasping the back of the chair in her left hand.

By the early twentieth century, cameras and films had improved so that exposure times were reduced, and thus the pictures were less likely to be blurred by the subject's movement. Still, the youngest child in the middle of these offspring of Robert William Kramp and Martha, nee. Streich (on left) apparently needed to be steadied. Note the sister holding the baby's hand.

On the right, is my grandmother's sister, Mrs. Rose Salmon, nee. Austel, holding her first child, John. John's left hand seems to be slightly blurred compared to the rest of the picture. I'm glad the beautiful mother in this case was not hidden.

LINKS AND REFERENCES:

1. Go to the homepage of The Paper and Advertising Collectors' Marketplace. Today, I could flip through the pages of their publication and see more pictures of "Hidden Mothers" in baby photographs including the whole text of the article. Perhaps in the future, one may have to look up Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jan 2010) on their site.

2. The "Dead Fred" genealogy photo archive web site also has an unidentified couple who were photographed at Bolko Schmieken Studios in England. I do not believe they are related to my family.

Eckley Miners Village in the Snow

"Apple" made a comment on my last entry that she also enjoyed the Heritage sites scattered across Pennsylvania, in particular, one she had visited called Eckley Miners Village near Hazelton. That brought back memories for me. I was working at Susquehanna Nuclear Plant near Berwick, PA, in the Susquehanna River Valley, and on my day off, I drove a short distance to Eckley and took one of my favorite photos shown below.

From Life's Journey

Incidentally, my friend, Jon, recently re-acquainted me with the beauty of Black and White photos and Sepia-toned images- even for nature shots (and coal tipples).

What you are seeing here is a coal tipple. Coal was hauled to the top of the slanted conveyor belt and then dumped though giant sieves to "size" the crushed coal. Before the turn of the 20th century, boys were hired to cull the slate, which was a waste product, from the usable and more valuable coal. The teen aged, or even younger, boys were called "breaker boys".

Several years ago, a friend of my late father, told me that the smaller coal tipples around Ramey in Clearfield County, PA, made great "Jungle Gyms" in the old days. He told me that my Dad would take his waist belt off, loop it over one of the supporting steel cables of the tipple, and then, hanging onto the loose ends of the belt, slide and ride the cable all the way down to the ground. "He was a real dare devil" my Dad's friend recalled.

LINKS:
Muddy coal mine tipple, Muddy, Illinois. Song by Rocky Alvey. Youtube video

Scrapbooking Family History

Budding family historians (my grandchildren) put together a visual history of our existence. And they did such a great job- which I hope will be passed down to the next geneation of family historians. Click on picture to enlarge.

My Father and me, a physical comparison at the same age

I've been obsessed over the last MONTH with efforts to create a Slide Show of my Kramp Line which I can burn to a DVD and see on Television- Ken Burns Style. I have about 600 images in the show at present. Some of the images have taken hours to create in software programs such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Microsoft's Power Point. One such image appears below- a comparison of my father and myself at about 1 or 2 years old. We seem to share many of the same genes, for example the eyes, mouth and chin. However, my father had a deep fold in his upper lip which I did not inherit. Incidentally, the chin was great for balancing a handle and broom, a feat of which we have demonstrated for many of our descendants. My Dad could also balance a kitchen chair by one of its legs, but I think he had thicker neck muscles than I did.

There is a story regarding the picture of me in this collage. The picture is one of seven in a series of different poses photographed by a Mr. Shaneyfelt. He lived in my parent's neighborhood at Auburn Garden Apartments, Del Ray, VA. The year was 1943, and the country was in the middle of WW II. Money was very tight, and there was little work for Mr. Shaneyfelt who was a professional photographer. So, for the love of his craft and his profession, Mr. Shaneyfelt took the pictures of me and practically donated them to my mother. Wouldn't it be neat if one Mr. Shaneyfelt's kin searched his name on Google and wound up here on this site and then contacted me. I would have to tell them that the donations of Mr. Shaneyfelt's photographs to my family were priceless.

Now, I must return to my Slide Show project. Sometimes you have to put everything aside for the time being in order to reach a particular goal. I apologize to my former friends and correspondents who used to know me. But, I am almost there, just a few more days, and then I will be back to my normal activities such as eating, bathing, sleeping, and of course- blogging.

Bicycling across the Mason-Dixon Line

Digital image above was taken with the wide angle setting (16:9 aspect ratio) on my Canon Power Shot A570 IS (image stabilization). I re-sized the image to 1024 x 576 before uploading it to this blog. Click on image to see full view. The 16:9 image is nice if you have a wide screen on your computer which most do these days. However, most of the images in this blog are uploaded in the 4:3 aspect ratio.

The path shown above is the Heritage Rail Trail County Park in York Co., PA. The trail runs from the historic district of York, PA, south to the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland, a distance of about 21 miles. Then the trail runs directly into the Northern Central Railroad Trail in the Gunpowder Falls State Park which runs 20 more miles from the border to Ashland, MD. Thus, the 41-mile trail is preserved in a County park in PA and a State park in MD. Good going rail-trail people.

Today, I parked my car in Glen Rock Boro, York Co., PA, and bicycled about 6 miles to the Mason-Dixon Line; crossed into Maryland; and biked another 4 miles; then turned around at Bentley Springs and returned.

I didn't realize until I bicycled 6 miles to SUMMIT Grove that I had been going uphill since Glen Rock. I thought it was my advanced age that was slowing me down. In fact, the trail in York County averages about 0.8% but then doubles to 1.5% in those 6 miles. I read about it all on an Historical Marker at the Summit which is 825 feet above sea level. I can here someone chuckling all the way out in Colorado ... and no, there is no panoramic view from here. The summit was once the location of a Methodist Summer Camp Meeting and is still active today. I also read that a "helper" engine was used in the old days to help push a heavy passenger or freight train up the grade. Good idea, but where was that helper engine today.

Thank Goodness, there was a good place to take a rest stop before reaching the Summit. I bought a big Lipton Ice Tea at the renovated train station in the village of New Freeland. I had to wake up the proprietor who had fallen asleep, sitting up, with his arms across a portable DVD player. I can understand his fading out; I was probably the second person in the cafe that day- it was Tuesday after Memorial Day. When he woke up, he also said he was tired from moving house and preparing for a wedding- his. Hope he doesn't fall asleep at the alter ... or on his honeymoon.

A little German Heritage: New Freedom was named after a Peter Free, a son of a German immigrant who had bought a large tract of land in the area in 1780. The village thrived on grist mills and lumber camps, and being close to the railroad.

About a mile and a half south of New Freedom near Summit Grove is the border between PA and MD. However, once the border was in dispute, and so, the astronomers, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were hired to survey a boundary, called the Mason-Dixon Line, between the two colonies and to set markers. The south face of each marker bore the seal of Lord Baltimore; and on the north face, the seal of William Penn. I believe I passed one of these M-D markers on the trail near the Line but no seal was evident. Understandably, if this was one of the ancient markers and it was indeed identified, it would be just a stump in no time because every bookshelf in every home in America would be displaying a piece of the rock. Let it be. Sh-h-h-h-h.

The remaining images are a bit of wildlife I enjoyed seeing along the trail. I wish to emphasize that this is an isolated, quiet trail, especially during the week.

How about them wonderful ferns growing in Pennsylvania, the state whose name means "Penn's woods".
This wildflower in present on what I believe is the Honey Suckle bush. You can see through the trees to the rippling waters of Gunpowder Creek.
It's hard not to take your eyes off the path while riding through such beautiful scenery. But watch out for those black-colored speed bumps. And keep your camera ready to shoot.

These are not city squirrels. These wild creatures stalk you and then let out a loud chatter to let you know you've invaded their territory.

REFERENCES:
The official Heritage Rail Trail County Park web site.

World War II Monument and Register of Veterans

World War II monument on the Washington, DC, mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. South end of the elliptical monument memorialized our military engagements in the Pacific Arena.

Yesterday, I drove down to the Clara Barton Parkway near Washington DC, and parked my car near Lock 7 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. From there I bicycled about 7 miles to the Lincoln Memorial, rounded it and continued to the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool. Here is situated the Nation's WW II memorial to Veterans. Behind me in the picture below is the registration building where one can contribute information on the veterans in their family who served in WW II (or apparently, other military engagements). The information is on computer and indexed by name, and is also available on the internet at http://www.wwiimemorial.com/. Contributors are individuals or organizations such as the American Legion. On the computer, I typed in our family's Gailliot surname and the following data was provided. The information was contributed by my Uncle Edward A. Gailliot:

Charles [Anthony] Gailliot. Worked as a Pattern Maker at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC. Deceased 1948.

Charles [Joseph] Gailliot. Signal Corps 13th Air Force. Repaired radios on 13th Air Force aircraft B-24s and B-25s.

Joseph Stolarczyk Bailey, of Binghamton, New York; U.S. Navy; Honored by Brother-in-law, Mr. Edward Gailliot; Activity: Stationed in the Pacific Theator on the U.S.S. Barataria, AVP-33, Sea plane tender. [From the Registry's web site]. Joseph Bailey was the husband of my aunt, the former Helen Rose Gailliot.
Bob Kramp in front of the Registration building at WW II Memorial in Washington, DC.
A colorful scene along the Cheasapeake and Ohio Canal at Fletcher's Boat House on the banks of the Potomac River. The bicycle/ recreational trail is to the right of the canal. At this point, the trail consists of two lanes, one gravel, the other paved. It is also at the junction of the C&O Canal trail (Cumberland, MD, to Rock Creek in Georgetown, DC) and the Capital Crescent Trail (local 10 mile trail).

Bartholdi Fountain- Been there; got the picture

Bob Kramp in front of the Bartholdi Fountain, Washington, DC.
In a previous entry, I uploaded a picture of my great grandparents, Henry C. Gailliot and Franceska, nee. Dumoulin, and my grandfather, Charles A. Gailliot, standing at the foot of the Bartholdi Fountain in Washington, DC, in the year, circa 1918. The dome of the Nation's Capital was shown in the distance. Today, the fountain is still in Washington, DC, but is located a short distance from where it was 90 years ago. Now, the fountain is in a triangular park, southwest of the capital, BEHIND the National Botanical Gardens, between Independence Avenue, First Street, and Washington Ave. It has been described as Washington's best kept secret for a place to relax and enjoy a sunny, warm day, while viewing a collection of the world's most beautiful flowers.

Incidentally, the dome of the Capital can still be seen from the park, but it is obscurred by a large tree in these pictures.

The Bertholdi Fountain, or sculpture as it could best be described because it is dry, was designed by Frederic Bertholdi. He was born in Colmar, in Haute Rhin, Alsace. My great grandmother, Franceska was also born in Alsace, but in Bas Rhin (lower Rhine), in 1871, and now I wonder if she didn't make the trip to the fountain because it was associated with one of her fellow countrymen. Bertholdi also designed the Statue of Liberty which the Alsacian immigrant, Franceska Dumoulin, might have seen on her arrival in New York Harbor in the early 1890s. It's no wonder that Bertholdi and his works were popular among my immigrant ancestors.

Surrounding the Bertholdi Fountain are gorgeous plants in peak bloom, such as this example of a Peoni- and they are labeled for the world traveler: Paeoni lactiflora, "Westerner", Butter cup family, Ranunculaceae.

Time flies. Just a short while ago ...

My Father really enjoyed photography. He had a photo-enlarger in the basement and taught me how to use it and to mix the chemicals needed to make prints from 35 mm negatives. He taught me little tricks to bring out the shadows or to dull over-exposed areas of the film. I can still remember the vinegar-like smell of acetic acid- the fixer. Dad only worked with black and white film; he trusted the color film (Ektachrome) to the commercial developers. Nevertheless, he meticulously preserved and organized his color slides. He put the 35 mm developed slides between two thin glass plates and taped the edges.

Yesterday, I scanned at total of about 70 of these color, glass slides including some black and white 35 mm negatives using my 9420 Visioneer Model scanner. For slides and negatives, one must use a much higher resolution, about 1600 dpi for scanning negatives versus 300 dpi for 4x6 prints.

Here, I posted one of Dad's pictures he took of my mother in about 1949. We were on a visit to the farm of my Dad's adopted father, Robert William Kramp, in Ramey, Clearfield Co., Pennsylvania. We called him "Pop Kramp". Looking at this image, I am reminded of how short life seems to be. My mother was just a girl here and now she'll be 88 this year.

Windows Vista

I just took at least 5 years off my life. I bought a new Hewlett-Packard lap top with the new Windows Home Premium Vista operating system. My purpose for purchasing the newer, faster computer, was to be able to run some of the more complex software which creates digital slide shows; for example, Adobe's Premier Elements (which would not load on my 2 year-old system without SSE2- huh?). I wish I could have stayed with Windows XP, since I'm finally becoming comfortable with it. However, I didn't have that choice when I bought a new computer. It's either Windows Vista or MacIntosh, or nothing. Unfortunately, only one genealogical computer program is made for the Macs. Most of the programs I use require Windows- at least that's the way I see it.

In any case, several of the wonderful programs which ran perfectly well, or nearly so, on XP, are not compatible with Vista. Also Vista has a lot of problems as you can tell by your first visit to the communal help groups online. The Vista "Help" section has just as many meaningless answers as any of the previous versions. And if you don't understand their answers, you can always contact your Administrator (I guess that's me) or the manufacturer of your hardware or software. Yea, right. Thanks a lot.

So, if your planning to buy a new computer with Windows Vista, plan also on purchasing several hundred dollars worth of new, "Vista ready" software, including the 2007 version of Microsoft's Office- sorry your M/S Office from last year won't work.

Incidentally, Vista comes with about four photographic slide show creators. Two of them send you to web sites to purchase the upgrades. The others are bare bones. Signed, Sour Grapes.

Experiment with Smilebox program

The following video was created at an Internet site called http://www.smilebox.com/. The reference is from a bibliography put together by our local librarian for an upcoming seminar, entitled, "Put your genealogy and family on TV". We plan to interest the attendees in several software applications which one can use to present slide shows of vintage, family photographs and simple genealogy charts- sort of like electronic scrapbooks. I will also present some of the hardware needed to "play" the slide shows; for example DVD players and video iPods. The following was a free creation. For a couple of dollars, I could create a video free of advertisements- which I may choose to do later on.

It will take a minute or two to load the buffer after you click on "play" button- watch the grow bar. To escape the video, click on "x" in upper right to close the window.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Update: I went back to Smilebox and the bought the creation for $1.93. I believe it was worth it, because now the creation is free of advertisements, and thus, loads more rapidly, and can be seen full screen.

Review of Free Internet Photo Albums

This month ends the free photo album feature at Yahoo.com. For several years I have posted pictures to two Yahoo albums, one for each of my two Yahoo accounts. I linked the albums to my personal web page, this blog, and also to a couple of genealogical web sites I maintain. A nice feature at Yahoo Photos was that visitors did not have to register a user name or password to access my Albums, and thus, guests could link to my pictures directly. Now, I must move my photos from Yahoo to another Internet photo service by the end of the month and visitors will probably have to go through the hassle of registering to see my photos. Realize that most of these sites gather their revenue by on-site advertisements or by selling reprints and other photo products to the user. So, I have been shopping at some of the more popular sites to see the basic features of each. Most sites require registration- which is free. Also, one can do the most common edits of their photos: crop, red-eye fix, rotate, flip, instant fix, and add captions and borders. Also, one can tag and organize photos and albums Other unique features or information include:

Flickr.com is partnered with Yahoo. One can use the same user name and password for both accounts.

Kodakgallery.com is the site for Kodak EasyShare. Up to sixty images can be uploaded at a time. More marketing than other sites. One can invite friends without having them register.

Shutterfly.com is partnered with Target Stores. Users can order and go to their local Target stores and obtain "shopping cart" items, such as prints, calendars, and photo books.

Snapfish.com is a service of Hewlett Packard and is powered by Earthlink (whew!). Users can order and pickup photos at Walgreen Drug stores. Uploading photos from my MOBILE phone was an easy set-up, but there is a time lag of a day or two between uploading photos and their actual appearance on-line. On the other hand, I can upload photos from my computer almost instantly

Photobucket.com I haven't registered here yet. Can anybody add comments?

Picasa.com I registered at this site with the same user name and password that I use for my travelstwo.blogspot.com The site is sponsored by Google. I have a choice of keeping my photo albums private or opening them to the pubic (at http://picasaweb.google.com/bobkramp ). Visitors do NOT have to register. Also, I can view my Picasa Alums on my mobile phone but can't upload them. Images are automatically resized to fit my phone's screen.

Snapgenie.com is great for creating slide shows with a running commentary which the user can add by dialing up on the phone. The site is supported by MyFamily.com- one of the largest Internet sites for genealogical research- by subscription.

Footnote.com and Geni.com are good sites for presenting one's genealogy and family photos. Footnote is partnered with the National Archives and is being used as a public reference and resource site. Geni is private for the user but can be shared with selected family members.

I will be adding more sites and comments as I do more shopping.

View from US 1 in FL Keys toward the Gulf

Arrived in Tampa during tropical storm Barry. Next day, drove east to toward Miami and then south on US 1 over the Keys to Marathon. Boarded the Poken. We leave Monday for Everglades, gulf side; then up the coast to Englewood, Sarasota County.

Resizing Experiment- image taken at 1280 x 960 pixels

Experiment: Which size digital image, in terms of pixels, should I upload to my blog? This image was sent as a picture message from my new LG enV cell phone which has a 2.0 MB camera. I can choose pixels sizes of 320 x 240, 640 x 480, 1280 x 960, or 1600 x 1200. I took the above landscape at 1280 x 960 pixels and sent it as a "picture message" to go(at)blogger.com. The POSTED image was re-sized by BloggerSpot to 328 x 248 pixels, 33.2 KB, so it could apparently fit into the column width of this blog. Right click on image and then click on "properties" to see this information. Now, if you left-click on the image here, it appears by itself in a new window. If the "expand" icon in lower right-hand corner of window is then clicked, the image re-sizes to 1024 x 768 pixels, 298.2 KB. All these images are in 4:3 aspect ratio. How do I know? Divide the second number by 3 and then mulitply the result by 4 and get the first number. See next entry below for continuation of experiment.

Incidentally, the picture here was taken along the C&O Canal towpath above Great Falls on the Potamac River.

Picture taken at 640 x 480 pixels

Cliffs, canal, and towpath along the C&O canal above Great Falls on the Potamac. Picture was taken at 640 x 480 pixel setting with my cell phone and sent as Picture Message to this blog. Right-click on image and then click "properties". Note that the image size is 328 x 248 pixels, 33 KB, as is all other images uploaded earlier to this blog. However, you can see larger sized image of this photo by left-clicking on image. The image properties then indicate an image of 640 x 480 pixels, 133.8 KB.

I also took the same landscape at camera settings of 1280 x 960 pixels (see above) and at 1600 x 1200 pixels. When I tried to send a picture message of the largest image, I received an error message, "Message size exceeds limit. Try another".

Conclusions:

1. All uploaded jpeg images will display in the blog at 328 x 248 pixels, ~33 KB, regardless of the size when posted. However, if the uploaded image is larger, the full-sized image can be displayed by clicking on the picture in the blog. The maximum image size which can be DISPLAYED is 1024 x 768 pixels.

2. If the uploaded image is 320 x 240 pixels, ie. smaller than 328 x 248, there will be very minor pixelation (fuzziness) of image.

3. Better to upload 1280 x 960 pixel size of complex landscapes, but close-ups of persons can be sufficiently taken and uploaded at 640 x 480 pixels.

4. The 1600 x 1200 pixel image taken by my cell phone can not be sent via picture messaging.

5. It is not necessary to resize all my digital images before posting to this blog, since they will not show up as huge, overwhelming images, but instead, be displayed within the margins of the blog column, that is 328 x 248 pixels.