There's a category of vernacular photography that is very easy to collect: itinerant street photographers. Go through a box of snapshots at an antique store and I'm betting you'll find several. The problem is the majority of them are incredibly boring, the photos…I have no idea if the photographers were boring. The photo equivalent of watching paint dry. But once in a while one comes along that makes me wake up and say, "YES! This is perfect!"
Who knows how these photographers actually behaved. Aggressive? Dart, shoot, and run while dropping a card? Shifty? Polite with a warm smile?
I'm guessing this woman was taken off guard and was concerned for the safety of the child and herself. I can hear her muttering, "Look straight ahead and keep walking" as she tightly clutched the little girls hand.
This is my submission this week for Sepia Saturday with a theme of "needing a helping hand." And this is not the first time I've featured one of these street photographs for Sepia Saturday.
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I had to look up the term vernacular photography as I had not heard it before – good old Wikipedia explained it perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThe little girl in the photo looks exactly like the adult, same walk, same hair style, and they are both wearing socks. How funny. Brilliant photo thank you for sharing it.
Mother and daughter? Or sisters? They indeed look to be from the same gene pool.
DeleteSome humdinger of a hat for someone so glum ~
ReplyDeleteThat's the perfect word! It's a humdinger. I stared at if for the longest time thinking, "Really? You liked that hat?"
DeleteBack then - getting your photo taken while out in public was probably unusual. Not like today - where you will be in someone's photo - possibly every hour.
ReplyDeleteNo hope for privacy anymore once you leave your home.
DeleteOh my goodness, that photo just makes it with your title, and your title what a laugh I had ... it sounds like straight out of an old western!
ReplyDeleteYup, could easily imagine them dressed in long dresses from the 1880s walking along a wooden sidewalk.
DeleteIn today's age of uncertainty & suspicion, the woman's admonition would hold even more importance! Sad, that. I noticed the little girl's 'Mary Janes' right off - with the bows. I had a pair like that eons ago.
ReplyDeleteI think I still have a pair of Mary Janes way back in the closet. Always loved them.
DeleteShe certainly looks none too pleased at being captured in this way; not a happy shot.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, she does not trust the photographer.
DeleteYou've definitely got her thoughts right. It reminds me of that recent viral video of a woman walking 10 hours through the streets of NYC.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I thought of when I grabbed this from the bin.
Deleteoh those street photos. I just shared one on Facebook of a late uncle and friend, soldiers in WWII.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link to it?
DeleteI think it is interesting how the man in the background is looking at her. I wonder what he is thinking.
ReplyDeleteProbably wondering why the photographer picked her out of the crowd.
DeleteShe looks tired. I wonder if she's been on her feet all day and still has a lot to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the photographer was not budgeted into the time she had to spend that day.
Delete"Don't smile!" - there is no way she is going to buy a photo taken in the street.
ReplyDeleteNot when she thinks she's going to be mugged.
DeleteShe's gone to a lot of trouble to make the little girl look pretty and though the mother looks glum she looks very young herself Is that really a bow or hat the mother is wearing or is it just the top of of some sort of street sign.
ReplyDelete- boundforoz
It's an incredibly, how shall I say this…unique hat.
DeleteShe's gone to a lot of trouble to make the little girl look pretty and though the mother looks glum she looks very young herself Is that really a bow or hat the mother is wearing or is it just the top of of some sort of street sign.
ReplyDeleteboundforoz
I wonder if the mother even noticed the photographer, she looks like her mind is on other things, and she's not happy about them.
ReplyDeleteShe indeed looks perturbed. Isn't "perturbed" a wonderful word. Say it over and over again and it sounds completely absurd.
DeleteI'm thinking that the older woman is a sibling and she's been told to look after her baby sister..and street photographers are not to be trusted. I'd be proud to own that glare myself. Great photo.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there is enough of a similarity to be sisters. A grand day out with big sis keeping the creeps away.
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