Campaign Puts Stock in Generic Photos

During the past several weeks we've visited friends in Germany, Denmark and now London. A couple days ago, David received an e-mail from a friend back in Baltimore that led to a discovery...

David finally found out how one of my images of him was used...on a Republican gubernatorial candidate's Web site. It goes without saying that David is a Democrat. When he found out how his picture was used, he said, "I'm an equal opportunity face. Democrats can buy me, too."

This is the picture in question, from my iStockphoto portfolio:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=617740

Laura Vozzella's politically-oriented TALK column, published Oct. 2 in The Baltimore Sun, has a cute account of it here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.vozzella02oct02,0,4353309.story

Schupp Allee

I was surprised to see a street named after me...or rather after a Schupp. Who knows ... could be an ancestor. David noticed the sign as we were with Silvia in Essen at Zollverein, an old coal factory.

This past Tuesday we spent the afternoon in Hilchenbach where my great-grandmother, Margaretha Miller (Mueller?) lived. A young man named Achim, the town registrar, greeted us with enthusiasm when he heard we were looking for records of my ancestors. He eagerly tried to help us by looking through old books of birth and other records. No luck. He called the town archivist who tried his best. No luck again but he promised to keep looking and to speak with some of his contacts.

Meanwhile we learned more about the region, where the Schupp name originated, and where the name Christian (my grandfather was Christian Schupp) originated. Achim took us to the town's museum. After a bit, we said goodbye as we were on the way to Silvia's, an iStock friend. But Achim said he would look us up if he visited our area.

David took a shot of Silvia and me. Silvia, another iStock photographer, and I met through iStockphoto. When I told her we were coming to Germany, She invited us to stay with her. We had a great time and her wonderful laugh is still ringing.