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Photo: Francis Parker, 1873, Kumeyaay-Diegueño American Indians feathered and painted up for a feast dance, Tecate, CA.

PRE-CONTACT THE STONE AGE:

When the Indigenous Southern California tribes were "discovered" by Europeans in the late 1700s, they were existing in the archaeologically-known Late Prehistoric Period with use of ceramic technology (clay pottery), limited use of agriculture, no use of metal or cloth. Materials harvested from plants, animals, and stone provided the raw materials for most manufactured items.

TIME TRAVELERS
FLOATING ON THE WINDS OF TIME

Note: Cameras were very different in the 1870s when Francis Parker took the Kumeyaay photo -- Parker's camera probably used collodion wet-glass-plate technology -- the light sensitive film emulsion would have been painted onto glass plates in total darkness -- exposed -- developed -- and printed in a darkroom. It's a small miracle the image survived into the Digital Age where it magically appears around the world over the Internet.

Photo caption: Wet-plate style period camera, c.1865-1870 (not Parker in photo). Notice the photographer has the lens cap in his right hand -- removing and replacing the cap served as his shutter speed. These cameras and period films used 5-20 second exposure times.

Still cameras at the turn of the 21st century typically expose a "normal" focal-length lens at 1/125th second hand held in medium ambient light -- and have no problem opening and closing the shutter at 1/5000th second in sunlight....

Time poetry and digital design by Gary Ballard for KUMEYAAY.INFO website.