I wanted something cheery for Friday the 13th - there is enough bad luck and misery going on around us at the moment without me adding to it. We also have a Sepia Saturday prompt this week that features family groups, so here is my brother (left), my mother, and I (I'm the cute one … Continue reading Three For The Price Of One
Tag: Old Photographs
The Girl With The Throwaway Glance
19th century photography is photography of the constrained: studio photography of fixed poses, fixed smiles and fixed emotions. The twentieth century brought cheaper cameras and that meant photography of the people by the people. Of the people leaning against a wall with arms folded, of the girl with the throwaway glance, of the dog snoozing … Continue reading The Girl With The Throwaway Glance
Still Collecting
My passion for collecting old photographs recognises few bounds, and a few years ago I managed to acquire a small collection of the original negatives of "stills" from British films from the 1940s and 50s. Such photographs were taken during filming in order to prepare the publicity photos that would be displayed outside cinemas. You … Continue reading Still Collecting
On The Slopes
Photography was made for groups. Get a group together - be it a group of friends, family, fellow workers, or ten-pin bowlers - and one of the first reactions is to get out a camera and record the moment for posterity. Group Photographs is one of the themes for this week's Sepia Saturday, and my … Continue reading On The Slopes
The Sea, The Sea
My mother loved the sea. Go within salt-spray distance of the coast, and you would find her paddling along the shoreline, watching the waves come in. My brother sent me this photograph of her the other day from his island home, way across the ocean. It's been a good few years since I've seen him. … Continue reading The Sea, The Sea
… And They Sailed Away
My trawl through my collection of old photographs to find a suitable illustration for St. Valentine's Day came up with this one. As so often is the case, I have no idea who these two are or where and when the photo was taken. That doesn't matter: it perfectly illustrates what Valentine's Day is all … Continue reading … And They Sailed Away
Photographic History
This photograph came to me from my Great Uncle, Fowler Beanland, who, during the First World War, was a foreman at a munitions factory in Keighley. The photo shows fifteen female munitions workers - just a small proportion of the many hundreds who worked for Longbottom and Farrar's, which was, at the time, part of … Continue reading Photographic History
Five Girls And A Kodak
The Sepia Saturday theme this week is old photos of even older photographers, and searching through my extensive (if my wife reads this, I mean very small) collection, I found this 1920s photograph. At first I thought the object in question might be a small handbag, but further research suggests it's a Kodak No 1 … Continue reading Five Girls And A Kodak
Albert In A Flap
Our Sepia Saturday theme this week is all about strange shapes, and the closest I seem to be able to get to it is this photograph from almost 100 years ago. I can only be sure about one of the six heads - and that is the third one down, which is my father, Albert. … Continue reading Albert In A Flap