APRIL 1957 – Fishermen unload their catch at the fishing port of San Sebastian, Spain. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
It’s one of those early color prints in our family archive, taken during a trip to Spain in 1957. The relatives stopped in San Sebastian close to the Spanish-French border and its harbor. Apparently, the harbor was pretty busy that morning. Boats were coming unloading their catch and leaving once done.
It’s an interesting historic photo (in my view), because these times are mostly likely over, and they won’t return.
However, the place itself has remained almost unchanged over the decades, and modern technology helps finding the changes. The first image below shows a screenshot of Google Streetview, created in October 2013. I’d say, it’s exactly the same position as back in 1957. The stairs leading into the water are there, the houses surrounding the harbor are there, even the clock at the top of the catholic church Capilla San Pedro Apostol (the building right above the blue boat) is still in operation today. Amazing. But some change has come to San Sebastian, too, since 2013. The latest satellite images from 2022 show that piers have been added to provide more space for smaller boats and yachts. What’s more, the walkway between the stairs and the building now shows – a barcode! It’s clearly visible in Google Maps (see link below.)
By the way, the original color print has almost completely faded over the 60+ years. I’ve added the original (color calibrated) scan below, and I was really surprised that I could restore it at least to the state you see above. The corrected colors seem to be still off, and the lack of sharpness is really sad. But to me, this does not matter for a rare color photo from the 1950s.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 17-APR-1957 |
| Location | San Sebastian, Spain |
| Image Source | 7 x 10 cm Color Print |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, AdobeRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4321 x 3055 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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