Kudos to Brad Bachelder
 

Just looking at a couple guns this morning and this one caught my eye, Brad does a fantastic job at restoration as evidenced by this piece. There are a lot of good guys out there Brian, Chris, Turnbull,and others. Just thinking that we are lucky to have such craftsmen available to us! Now if we could just get that turn around time down a little? Here are a few photos for your afternoon viewing pleasure, Gary

Brads work
 

three more

You can double and triple click for real close ups, the gun is a 28" Laminated 20gauge, lifter in grade 3, gary

Gary you are right.... and also that is one beautiful gun !

Gary, there should be a P stamped in the forward section of the right barrel flat. Do you find one there?

Incidentally, there appear to be lightening cuts in the water table - is that a twenty-bore?




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Dean, Yes it is a 20 bore, will check on the P, to set the record straight both Turnbull and Bachelder worked on this gun, gary

Kudos
 

As you can see there is a P on the Barrels

As I suspected. Thanks Gary.





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Yowzer! I'm not really a hammer gun guy, but that is one beautiful shotgun!

and great photography

that really makes it pop :bowdown:

Beautiful.

Magnificent to say the least !!

Would you mind sharing with us, who did what on this one?

beautiful gun! I can't wait to get my set of barrels back from Brad for my GH!!!!:whistle:

Absolutely stunning. Also, I had Brad do a little repair on my E.M. Riley 10 gauge and am very pleased with the results. He certainly does excellent work!

Regarding those magnificent Toncin barrels please see
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/19406549

also discussed here
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18958

Well...I'm gonna say something without any intention of running down this gun, 'cuz it's certainly a very nice gun.

The photography....is what I see a lot in guns and cars being sold by dealers. It's the sort of photography that, frankly, makes the subject look 'better' than it does in real life. Then, when you see the real thing you are wondering if it's even the same thing.

I like the sort of photography that represents the gun as it truly is....a good example are the pics used by Julia in their catalogs. High quality photos, but also pretty true-to-life.

I have to disagree with this statement. These are great photos which capture the gun in it's absolute best. It is what it is.

In very bright sunlight or a dark room certainly the gun won't appear as shown in the photos. We do not see objects, rather we see only the light which is reflected from an object. A great photographer can set up shots so that the maximum desirable light is reflected into the lens. Now, on our computer monitor screen the light is projected outward. So, what we see in person and what we see on a computer or TV screen are different even for the same object. Finally, each of our vision is different. What I see will be different even if ever so slightly that what another sees looking at the same thing at the same instant.

The gun with it's Damascus (or laminated for this gun) pattern, case colors, and great wood finish is all of what we see in the photos. Poor photography just won't show the ALL of the beauty of the gun. I like nice photos!

I'd be interested to know how these photos were achieved.....strictly though lighting? Or digital enhancements such as playing with contrast, brightness, tone, etc?

I could be wrong...but I truly don't believe in any light the gun, in real life, would look like the pics.

For the very reason that I am not a professional photographer, or own any professional cameras or lighting, I often have to use brightness or contrast adjustments to get the pictures to look as good as the gun actually does! I try to use natural lighting (sunlight) as much as possible. This often involves shooting in the shade and making angle and position changes to get the best exposure without glare, reflections etc.
The use of a narrow depth of field or a complimentary solid color background will draw the eye to the subject matter and allow it to be the focal point of the photograph. That is exactly what you want when trying to photo a firearm for its own beauty.
I will agree that photos that have been photoshopped to improve tones or colors that are not true to the original, or to remove imperfections in the subject itself are less than desirable and should never be used to promote a firearm for sale. That is just false representation!

I hate to point this out, but under that aegis, the photographic representation of virtually all products sold through advertising since WWII would be "less than desirable."

Especially automobiles. I know this from professional experience.

Yes, no doubt. Especially on new products where the item you purchase is not necessarily the item shown. My statement was referring to those who sell used firearms on auction sites and the forums here etc. That I would call undesirable. :nono:

On the topic of photography, I recently saw a gunsmith's photos of a restored gun that had a crack on the hammer photoshopped out. You could see it in one photo, and then in a closeup photo, it was not there anymore. Just a fuzzy blended area where it was.

That, along with some other glaring checkering issues with the gun makes me wonder how the customer felt once he had it in hand. Some just have no scruples.

Greg, those photos were taken by one of our members on this board and he has photographed most of Gary's guns (most of the photos seen on this board of Gary's guns were taken by him) . I have seen many of Gary's guns and they look in hand the same way as they look in the photos. I have not seen this gun so I can't say the photos represent it exactly, but my guess it would be damn close!

The photos of this gun were taken in my garage, by Mike Smith he used different back drop material paper that is in different colors some guns looked better in grey paper background some with red etc, the lights were set up by him in the garage , it was raining outside that day, As for myself I only have a cool pic to take photos with and don,t really know how to use it well, I certainly would not try to make a gun look better than it really is! sorry for any confusion the photos caused, but they are what they are beautiful works of art by skilled craftsmen, from a hundred or more years ago in Meriden Ct. I am proud to own them and guess I get carried away sometimes by showing to many pictures on the site. Gary

Not at all Gary - You are treating us to the enjoyment of some beautiful Parkers that we would otherwise never get to see - and for that we thank you!!





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Gary,

Thank you for sharing your Parkers with us.

Mark

Yes, I certainly enjoy the guns....in a lot of case they are the only examples of the type I've ever seen. There's no need to apologize...my comment was only related to the photography itself. Maybe it's my fault....for some reason I took a lot of electives in college on photography (probably because they were the easy classes lol) and I get my critic's hat on pretty quick.

Greg,
Was that an apology ?

Have you seen any of Gary's gun's in person.....

Glad you took the easy classes........

No, it was not an apology...why would you think it was?

No, I haven't seen his guns in person....but I'll bet they don't look like they do in the pics, fine guns they may be. In fact, I would expect in person they'd look better.

Having had that 20 for a few days while I was making a case for it, I can say without reservation, it is every bit as beautiful in the flesh.

So Edgar,

You mean the photos are real and not Photoshop? Well how about that? :)

Gary, I have never known you to exaggerate or overstate one of your guns in photo or words, in fact you are more likely to be very modest, keep those pictures coming. Possibly there have been pictures posted by someone who did, but I think the people we see regularly with good guns don't do that and as Gary said they are proud of them and it seems to me it's one of the ways to benefit all of us.

Amazing how grown men get so thin skinned...especially to the point they are not even addressing the issue at hand. The day I see a Parker with an orange-y hue to the wood I'll agree that the photography is not at fault.

You guys remind of a woman when you tell them you don't like their selection of wallpaper....and you spend the next two weeks insisting that when you said the wallpaper looks bad you didn't mean their butt looks fat.

Greg, If a member takes the time to share his great guns with us why criticize ? You could always save your comments for yourself.

Congratulations Greg ! I guess you made whatever point you wanted to :cuss: as it sounds like Gary will not bother you posting anymore pictures.... What year did you take photography 101..... When I was in my 20's and 30's I was also involved in photography you know the small stuff 2 1/4 or 4 x 5 view camera where we really had to watch our lighting and I see nothing wrong with these pics (but again I've been out of the business for a number of years). Isn't it nice you can criticize guns and photos of guns you have never seen :rolleyes: No wonder no one what's to post pictures !

I agree with everything Dave said and I'm pretty sure most of the members would agree with him....

I think I speak for most of us when I say I appreciate those who share photographs of their Parkers on here and those who share their Parkers at the various PGCA events. Keep em coming! Quality photographs are a plus too, but really any photo that shows us something we haven't seen before is welcome

Gentlemen,

This post is as a moderator. I tried making a couple subtle posts as a member rather than a moderator to mediate a thread gone bad. Okay my second post was in poor judgment from a moderator. Hey, I'm human most days...

Please read and heed.

Some members including myself tried to mitigate the inference that Gary C. had tried to ingratiate his Parker with Photoshop tricks. Anyone that knows Gary and/or has seen his guns would know better. Many of us took exception to the inference that Gary had compromised his integrity. Edgar who speaks the truth without regard to anyone's feelings (to include me on more than one occasion) stated he had held the subject gun and it is in the condition as shown.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19620

The post in question, contained in this thread about a certain Parker, infers that the photos of this Parker have been doctored to make the gun look better.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...t=19620&page=2

While I normally counsel in private this will be an exception since the poster cannot take subtle and not-so-subtle hints from other members. To publically infer that a another member has compromised his integrity is at the minimum rude. There is no place for this behavior on these forums. Cease and desist from this type behavior on these forums.
"A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to halt purportedly illegal activity ("cease") and not take it up again later ("desist")."

In one has an issue with another use the PM's or give them a call. I received an updated phone roster with my most recent PARKER PAGES.

If someone is violating the rules of the forum then send the moderators a PM or message via the exclamation point button on the bottom left of the post window.

So, let's all back off this issue. If it happens again let me know and I will take immediate action rather than make subtle posts.

Have nice day!
Mark

Are you suggesting I haven't learned anything from all those classes in Sensitivity Training? And all this time I thought I was the poster guy for courtesy and political correctness. Well you can kiss my butt stock. Just kidding Mark. You know I love you like a second cousin, twice removed.

Sorry Mark (for Edgars humor at your expense) but that's funny, and I know we all needed a little humor in this post that took a really (and I mean Really wrong, to the point of people not wanting to post again) wrong direction.......!

Eric and Edgar,

No offense taken. :)

Mark