2/28/14

UP on a rock


This is an image from my book Tattered and Lost: Telling Stories. When I saw the Sepia Saturday challenge this week I immediately thought of it.

I think there are probably a lot of stories for what's going on, but for me the main one has always been a question. Was the ladder already there or did they bring it? And if they brought it where else did they go with their ladder? Wouldn't it be grand to think this family had a series of shots of themselves on top of things?


Click on image to see it larger.

2/27/14

FACE wrecks


One of my favorite sites to visit is Cake Wrecks. I love seeing really bad cakes get called out in public. There's something glorious about the typos, the color combinations, the general ugliness and stupidity of the cakes. So I think of the hand tinting of this photo as the vernacular photography version of cake wrecks.

A "professional" was given the job to take a black and white portrait and make it more life like. Ummmm…I'm guessing the entire family had jaundice.


Click on image to see it larger for diagnosis purposes only.

2/23/14

The DRIVER


Sure, it's a photo with a lot going on, but for me the focus is that driver. Where is that driver going to take them and is it where they planned on going? I feel like I've stepped into an old 1940s British film and something mysterious is about to take place.


Click on image to see it larger.

The only clue is the stamp on the back.



Another photo from the Betty Schnabel estate.

2/21/14

All the NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT


Are there are any newsboys left? Is there somewhere that a kid still stands around hawking the latest headlines? Face it, newspapers are just about a thing of the past and that just makes me sad. With the loss of the daily delivery the paper routes of the past with a kid on a bike flinging papers willy nilly at houses is also but a blip in history. I think most papers are delivered in the early morning hours by someone in an old VW or Toyota with the driver's side window permanently down.

If newspapers cease publishing actual hard copy I think it will be a terrible loss. I'm old school. I like holding the paper, sitting on the floor with it spread out in front of me, folding it up to read one article more intimately. And I love cutting things out of the paper that catch my eye and stuffing them away with hope that sometime in the future I'll find them again and not have to ask myself, "Why they heck did I save this?" I have newspaper clippings going back decades. I've even got interesting obituaries of ordinary people who had extraordinary obituaries. It's not the same when it's digital.

A digital newspaper is more about advertising in your face than a hard copy paper. You tend to just scan for the items that interest you, clicking on links that rush you past things you don't care about. Seriously, does anyone peruse the obits in a digital newspaper? I'm guessing that only people looking for a specific obit ever look at them.

And making a pdf of an article and sticking it into a folder made of ones and zeros just doesn't cut it. It never yellows with age and if you trash it you can't go back later and see it laying in the trash allowing you to think, "Well, maybe I'll keep this for awhile."

This weeks Sepia Saturday, a haunt I've had to forgo for the past months, has a photo of three gents in suits with the center guy holding some papers. It immediately made me think of this shot taken from the collection of photos I purchased at the Betty Schnabel estate sale last year. The fellow on the left is her father, who I think might have worked in some capacity in the oil industry. I have no information about the newsboy or the fellow on the right. I'm guessing that's a train station in the background in Rawlins, Wyoming.


Click on image to see it larger.

What is it about the newsboy that seems to fascinate or annoy Betty's dad? The other guy seems to have bought a paper and is happy to have his photo taken with the kid. But why take your picture with the newsboy? Why was this shot taken? Okay, I really don't want you to waste any time or brain cells on this question, it's just something that occurred to me.

As far as my headline/title of this post...these days most of what gets "published" online isn't worth the ones and zeros it's "printed" on.

This is my submission to Sepia Saturday.

2/20/14

His LITTLE DEUCE COUPE


In his mind this was a real goin' machine.


Click on image to see it larger.


2/19/14

Pose WITH GRANDMA


Along with the ever popular pose-for-grandma shot is the category pose-WITH-grandma. Look around, you probably have some of your own. The older you get the more you cherish these shots.

Now, as to what has attracted the attention of these kids I'll let you figure out. I'm guessing Grandma is thinking something along the lines of:

They're good kids, but real space cadets


Click on image to see it larger.

2/15/14

INFATUATION


On the back is written:

Old Hard Boiled and his nut girl
1920

Little did this person know that these two would now forever be known with these monikers.


Click on image to see it larger.

2/10/14

VISITING the sick


I have mentioned in the past that I am my father's caregiver. It is stressful and tiring. It is the reason I have not posted on any of my sites more often. When a spare minute happens I close my eyes and "sleep" for that moment. I will not complain about doing this. I'm honored to take care of my dad. But oh for a good nights sleep.

Don't forget those who are sick. Do not be afraid of their illness. Call them, send cards, visit them...remember them.


Click on image to see it larger.

2/2/14

The WALLPAPER REALLY PULLED THE ROOM TOGETHER revisited


One of the interesting aspects of vintage snapshots is seeing the decor of rooms from long ago. Mid-century wallpaper is always fascinating because it so often clashes with everything else in the room, specifically the drapes and carpeting. Big tropical leaves seem to have been popular. (see also this older post) Why? Was it the war in the Pacific? I'm sure it wasn't. Is it left over from the beginning of the century? Similar wallpaper was used in one of the bedrooms of I think Blanche on The Golden Girls so it's been a popular pattern for a long time.

I'm sure if I dug deep enough I'd find a book about wallpaper through the years.


Click on image to see it larger.

This man is too busy looking after three of Snow White's dwarfs to worry about the wallpaper. That's Cranky on the left, with Confused on his lap, and Giggly by himself.