If it HADN'T BEEN FOR THE FIRE...

I don't know when I'd have ever found this photo.

I live in the area in California that was recently ravaged by fires. I did not lose my home, but I know some of those that did. It was two weeks of monitoring news nonstop waiting to find where the evacuation lines had been redrawn. Hospitals were closed, phone lines were down, cell phone coverage was spotty, and trying to contact doctors for my ailing father was impossible for days. Panic began to set in as I tried to gather family documents and photos for the possible evacuation and at the same time wondered where to go for the medical care my father so desperately needed.

I remember taking a shoebox out of a closet and looking inside to find photos I didn't remember. There was no time to ponder the contents, just get them in the car, and move on to the next box and files. Over the next few weeks I kept thinking about this box and the photo of my grandmother that was on the top of the pile. I think the box had probably been put in the closet over thirty years ago.

Finally, with some calm returning to life, about a week ago I decided to look through the box. I was dumbfounded by some of what I found. This woman is my great-grandmother and I never knew I had this photo. In fact, I didn't think I had any photos of this woman. She died giving birth to her second daughter, my grandmother's sister. My grandmother was too young to remember her mother and I'd always assumed there were no pictures of her. I've looked online hoping through genealogy searches that I'd find some distant relative that might have a photo of her. Nope, nothing. I've never even found her obituary. She just seemed to be an elusive spirit I would never see. So it was a great and pleasant shock to find not one but three photos of her from childhood to near when she died.

So, if it hadn't been for the fire I might not have found my great-grandmother for many more years. Her life was not filled with joy and it was cut short causing my grandmother even more grief in her life. But now a hole in my heart is a little smaller knowing Sara will no longer be forgotten.

This is my first time back with Sepia Saturday in months. My life as a twenty-four hour a day caregiver has forced me to put most things on the back burner. I will try my best to make the rounds in the coming days and look forward to reading the other Sepia posts. 

This photo is not within the theme, but it is for me a grand photo taken with a camera even more important than the one in the Sepia theme photo.

And though I found something joyful because of the fires, I will never forget the thousands left homeless who lost everything. The scar on the land will eventually disappear, but the emotional scars will be here for decades.

The GOLDEN BOY

Another tiny tintype of the little boy featured in yesterday's post. Slightly older, and still a beautiful boy. I'm fascinated by the damage to the image. It wears its age well, a lot better than moi.

FRAMED in gold

For anyone familiar with my recent posts you know that a few weeks ago I purchased a gold mine of photos. I lucked out at an extremely wonderful estate sale when I scored several photo albums, thousands of slides, and a young girls scrapbook. I figured there had to be something within one of the albums to go with this weeks Sepia Saturday prompt. I went with golden frame instead of what was within the frame and a count of three that go together.

What follows are all very tiny tintypes. We are the first people to ever see these images large. All of these folks are grouped together on one page with no information given as to their relationship to each other.

This golden fellow measures 15/16” x 1.25” including the frame.



Sisters, cousins, or just friends who all had their photos taken on the same day by the same photographer? A day out together filled with flirting, giggling, and some fine pastries? We can send them wherever we imagine.

When you CAN'T SEE THE FOREST for the man

I don't find pristine tintypes. I find tintypes that are bent, and jagged, and scuffed. But somehow the rosy cheeks always manage to come through the turmoil of 100+ years. This particular image has more damage than you can imagine. Right through the horizontal middle it's severely bent. I'm actually surprised it scanned as nicely as it did.

So would you call the scratches patina? In this case patina brings down the photos value which means it's cheap enough for me to buy.

My imaginings say this fellow had this shot taken in San Francisco and that he was of Italian descent. The truth is, I have no idea. He could be a pool hustler from Poughkeepsie. Or perhaps he was in a tour group of famous faces and his job was to pretend to be Bat Masterson. Heck, almost all guys back then seem to have looked like Bat Masterson. That's the problem with these old images. Everyone looks like a cardboard cut-out.

So I give you "Cardboard Cut-Out of Man With Trees."

TATTERED AND LOST in pink

Another excellent example of why I call this site Tattered and Lost. So much of what I buy are items most people would ignore. They're badly damaged with surface wear, but somehow they've survived.


Click on image to see it larger. 

I have no information about this vintage tintype, but who could pass up these little girls? This one would actually be a nice image to restore...as if I need another project.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 5

Sometimes I become entranced with an image, longing to know about the people. I feel this way about this woman. I want her to become alive, three dimensional with all her flaws and charms.

What was her passion in life? Was she free with thought and feelings? Was she fulfilled by her life? Would we be able to talk to her as equals though so much time has passed? As a young girl did she ever throw her head back in joy and spin around and around beneath the expansive sky smiling in anticipation of life? I wonder.

Nothing left but dust floating with the currents.

Click on image to see it larger.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 4

The woman to the side of the man.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 3

Who is this man whose stare was captured so long ago? What is the story we're not hearing? The blush on his cheeks belies the reality of the life he lead. As he stared at the photographer what was he thinking?

All of these images that have survived through the years without stories attached, are the subjects nothing more than ghosts? Without his story is he real or just an image of a person, a representation of a life long forgotten?

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 2

In calm repose her youthful arm rests upon his shoulder. The fingers relaxed so as to not move during the exposure. Any movement and the dainty ring would be gone to history. Even more questions would then be asked of this couple from so long ago.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 1

A tintype found in a box at an antique store. Sadly scarred by time. People unknown. Location unknown. Date unknown.

The image to unfold over the next few days.