Friday 21 September 2012

Sepia Saturday No. 144

It's once again Sepia Saturday, when I take a break from the business of crime fiction writing to indulge in my favourite hobby, collecting and admiring old photographs. This week's theme, as provided by Alan Burnett at http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.ca/, is based on a photo posted by Alan in which the photographer omitted some poor fellow's head. As a variation on the theme of photographer as decapitator, or omitter of other body parts, I found two photos in my collection that suggest the theme of amateur photographers as imperfect framers and shot composers.

This first photo is a family portrait:

I like this photo very much. An outdoor portrait of a very handsome man with, I'm guessing, his mother and his daughter. Everyone's very well dressed, but the photographer "spoiled" the shot by failing to clear away the timothy and clover in the foreground, not to mention the gigantic leaf on the right. Just the same, the photo was considered acceptable enough to have been mounted on an expensive-looking embossed black mounting board (cropped out of my scan) and kept with other family photos through the years. In pencil, on the back, the photo is dated "1912." I like this portrait not only because the man has a great mustache, but also because, unlike a studio shot, it puts these people right in the middle of the physical world in which they lived. In the middle of life.

This second photo is a group photo of an event of some kind:


I've included this picture in the theme of amateur frame-botching because of the sign or banner in the top left corner. Just enough to tantalize, far too little to let us know what kind of an event it was. Pencilled on the bottom of the mounting board (which I cropped out of this scan) is "Burt Grove." It could be anywhere, but I think it might be Burt's Grove, which was in Auburn, New York, a Google search of which turns up several references to picnics and other similar events there in the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century.

Now that we've dispensed with the theme, take a look at the people in this photo (click on it for a closer view). First we have the group of five girls under the tree on the right, who seem to be the only ones aware of the photographer. Next, look at the young lady in the centre, viewed in profile. She seems to be trying to talk to the young fellow sitting under the tree, who appears to be sulking. Oblivious, everyone else is helping themselves to the spread on the tables, which is supposed to be the main idea, in the first place! This one, folks, is an example of a picture that could easily support a thousand words and a hundred different stories.

21 comments:

  1. I like the first photo better because I can see the people better. The grass and leaf do add a certain something. Better than the bottles, glasses and cups I sometimes find in the photos I take.

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    1. I know what you mean, Kristin. Why don't we notice these things before we snap the picture? ;)

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  2. I also don't mind the grass and the big leaf and I'm forever interested in the details of what people wore - from shawls and dresses to hats and shoes. Can't see any shoes here, but the social atmosphere of the picnic is interesting too.

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    1. I agree, Christine, the social atmosphere of the picnic is very interesting. And I thought the shawl on the elderly woman in the first photo was very nice.

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  3. I agree with you, these are both real life photo's. Compared to CDV's there is so much to see when enlarged. And I agree with Kristin, the "debris" doesn't bother me although the leaf is a bit much...

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    1. Yes, the studio portraits on CDVs and cabinet cards are interesting and important, but the real fun can be found in the amateur real life pictures. The leaf looks like something out of Day of the Triffids, doesn't it?!

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  4. The difference here is that one is set up, the other caught at random even if the five on the right are aware of the camera. But both reflecting real life, uncluding the 'untidy' garden.

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    1. I got a kick out of the five girls in the second photo. They were obviously having a lot of fun posing for the photographer. Again, very different from a studio shot!

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  5. Camera lenses usually include more area and a slightly different angle than the viewfinder, so the second photo might have been framed carefully. Or maybe the wind blew the banner into view. The fellow in back might have disliked having his picture taken and thought he was hiding out of view.

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    1. Very good points! Darn that wind. Any thoughts on what the banner might have said?

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  6. I really like the picnic photo too. Look at all the pitchers on the little side table. What do you suppose they had to drink? Tea? Lemonade? Spring water? And is that a basket of potatoes in the foreground? Picnic scenes always tickle me because evidently folding lawn chairs hadn't been invented yet -- they brought along their kitchen chairs, I guess.

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    1. Wendy, I spent a whole bunch of time with a magnifying glass looking at all those pitchers on the original print. And yes! I believe they're potatoes in that basket, which might suggest a late summer/early fall event.

      The guy who invented folding lawn chairs must have made a fortune!

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  7. Interesting photos! Love looking for details in pictures like the one of the picnic. I started wondering about the ladies keeping their white dresses white - especially since there don't seem to be many chairs in view. Maybe the younger girls wore dark skirts so they and the men could sit on the ground without too much damage.... just my mind wandering...

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    1. I wonder if the five girls posing beneath the tree swiped all the chairs for themselves. Good point about the dark skirts. Not being female, I didn't think of that one.... I'll remember that next time!

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  8. A half banner giving just a clue as to what really is happening - seems like a perfect photograph for a crime writer. There really is something linking interpreting old photos with solving crime mysteries, that same searching for clues, and tracking down solutions.

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  9. In this age of photoshop, we seem more critical of these amateur pics and I myself am not above doing some to family pictures, just like mine, even if I'm a careful photographer when I frame my shots, I always have details to remove and other things to adjust. But I find the first pic has a "champetre" feeling which appeals to me even if they look a little stern there. As for the other, less banner and more bucket would have been preferable, but did the photographer even noticed either one? A candid shot meant to capture a delightful moment shared by all. This could easily be turned into an Impressionist painting.
    Lovely!!
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  10. That shawl of the lady on the first photo is very interesting. It reminds me to the hype of crocheted shawls in the seventies. Every woman and girl wore a shawl similar to this one.

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  11. As you say there are many possible stories to be gleaned from that second picture. I like the face that it is a real snapshot in time and not posed. The word in the banner seems to be saying 'fun' or 'run'! perhaps it was both - a Fun Run- and this was the final stop!

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  12. Some sort of wonderful social function that was probably hoping to bring the young ladies and men into a casual gathering. It looks like the young ladies were not finding the young men all that interesting. However, the photographer did have their interest.

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  13. Oh lovely, a man after my own heart, a collector of old photographs no matter whose they are....

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  14. Maybe the banner says:
    It's great to be an American
    or
    Join Now and Become a Rotarian
    or
    Are you a Christian

    Such an interesting photo. BTW I like all the foliage in the 1st photo. It's so Green, so natural, so outdoorsy.
    Nancy

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