All I can tell you about this vintage snapshot is that it's from the George Kallman collection, specifically from his mother, Lorena Aina Beck's, photo album.
I have no idea what is going on here, but I can speculate. It's an odd photo.
Click on image to see it larger.
This is my submission for this weeks Sepia Saturday. From the prompt image I went with groups of people doing things that make no sense to me, but for which I know there is a story.
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I love your interpretation of the theme: people doing things that make no sense to me :)
ReplyDeleteSomehow this picture is giving me the shivers. I mean the woman looks sad or disappointed or abandoned whereas many people in the group are downright cheerful. Could it be that this concerns a racial problem?
I agree that it is a bothersome photo because we just don't know what is going on, but my mind runs to the negative. I'd like to think that the sad expression was just a moment caught on film and they just missed catching her smile.
DeleteI agree with Peter. It has a creepy feel because the people in the background seem focused on the women in front and not on the camera. I'd say it was a farewell event but what's up with the flower ladies? The poor woman with the bags looks so uncomfortable, as if she was waiting for the bus and a flash mob suddenly showed up to sing Broadway show tunes.
ReplyDeleteThat is really so funny. The idea of a show tunes flash mob from long ago.
DeleteI like to think she's holding a bag containing a gift.
Ohhhh...bad vibes here! I think Peter's hit it, and it makes my neck tingle! As unsettling as it is, it's very powerful...
ReplyDeleteHas the bus gone without her? There must be more than one story here.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting photo! It makes me feel a bit sad too. Sure wish we knew the story.
ReplyDeleteI'm going on the happy side here....they are saying good-bye to the young lady who is off to bigger and better adventures...you can just tell...perhaps she's going off to write a book that one day will appear as a movie!
ReplyDeleteI love your theme for the post. Apparently it makes no sense to us either. LOL
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't look like a bag, and what is she holding? Is it some sort of experiment?
ReplyDeleteThis really is a curious photo. The lady with the bags looks rather sad. And then in the crowd is a man raising his hat as if he were hurrahing. Or could he be saying goodbye?
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange photo, slightly disturbing. Some letters are visible in the background, but I cannot make out the words.
ReplyDeleteI think this is what makes the photo so interesting. Each of us have reactions to the photo with no outside interference. Many of us are prone to think of history and this woman's place in it. It creates a complex emotion taken out of the context of its creation.
DeleteI would go for the happy side too, but the woman in the front has such an insecure and mournful look on her face. Maybe she's being chased out of town.
ReplyDeleteShe certainly does look separate from the rest, but perhaps the photographer pulled her away from the crowd to get the shot?
ReplyDeleteYes, very enigmatic -- indefinite enough that each viewer can imprint his or her own interpretations of what's happening and thus, create a story that says more of his or her psyche than of the original situation captured on film.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteYou are so right - to us there may be no rhyme nor reason to this photo but I'm sure the people in the photo knew exactly what was happening. We are left to imagine. I too do not like the tones I am receiving from this picture however we cannot know for sure what was occurring.
ReplyDeleteI wish you had shared some of your theories...
ReplyDelete:)~
HUGZ
To me, this appears to be a snap of a happy/funny event in the early-1920s. I do not know the circumstances of the snapshot but I have learned that it is not constructive to read too much into mysterious pictures. Usually, when the truth is learned it is nothing like what has been imagined.
ReplyDeleteAnd indeed that's what makes vintage snapshots so interesting. Untethered from time and place, we are free to read anything into them we want.
DeleteI agree. I should have said it's not constructive to read too much "negativity" into mysterious pictures.
ReplyDelete