The Drama of High-Rez Photos

High-rez photos are “high resolution photos.”

High resolution photos are needed for sharpness of image when printing.

It’s based on the number of pixels–the higher the number, the more dense the photo, the clearer it will print.

While writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers, I discovered how important they are–especially for research.

Low resolution

While researching Oswald and Biddy Chambers, I found a superb site for photos at the Cadbury Research Library in Birmingham, England.

There, a collection of World War I photos from the YMCA‘s work in Egypt provided plenty of sleuthing.

An Australian, Peter Wenham, found my blog posts about Oswald Chambers and informed me of the site.

Wenham also sent me photos of Oswald Chambers’ burial.

We’d not seen them before and I stared in amazement, trying to make out who was in the photo.

He pointed out his grandfather -which is how he discovered the picture–but no one else was clear to me.

Here’s the photo from Cadbury Research Library’s digital file on line:

Low-rez and the sepia color make it unclear.

I blew it up to see if I could recognize anyone and made a few guesses, but it just wasn’t as clear as my eyes needed.

Wenham pointed out his grandfather, and I saw him, but wasn’t sure about anyone else’s identity.

High-rez instead

My publishing house, Baker Books, required all photos for Mrs. Oswald Chambers to be high rez.

I contacted the YMCA-UK for permission to use their photo and then sent that permission to the Cadbury Research Library.

A few days later, on November 16, 2016–or exactly 99 years after the photo was taken–I received my copy.

Oh, my!

Here it is:

 

WordPress won’t let me post a photo with such high resolution.

Here are details I could see in high-rez:

 

 

The man looking at the camera is Wenham’s grandfather George Shapley, a YMCA chaplain newly arrived in Cairo during the war.

In the background on the right, you can see the officers who served as the 100-man honor guard that escorted the artillery caisson carrying Chambers’ body.

They are leaning on their rifles–which, of course, will be fired in salute at the end of the service.

In the next photo detail, you can see the pall bearers (in uniform) who shouldered Chambers’ coffin into the cemetery for burial.

I believe that is missionary Samuel Zwemer on the right with his back to the camera and not in uniform. He conducted the service.

And, the last detail that jumped out at me.

Where was Biddy Chambers?

Draped in black and standing beside Lord Radstock, the senior British YMCA official in Cairo at the time.

Daughter Kathleen is not visible in this photo, but would have been standing beside her mother.

The woman in the white dress beside Biddy probably was Eva Spink–who accompanied her on a trip to grieve immediately following the service.

This high-rez photo will appear in Mrs. Oswald Chambers–along with 39 others.

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High-rez photos of Oswald Chambers’ burial reveal guests. Click to Tweet

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