A SUNNY DAY in the Old West

A chance to step back in time. Perhaps this was a home, but I'm thinking boarding house. I imagine the original homestead was the 1 story house on the right with the "time for dinner" triangle hanging out front. The two story abode was probably added later. Looks like a nice enough place. Have no idea where it is. No reference was written on the back. 

Click on the image to see it larger.

There must have been a lot of life going on in this place. People coming and going. Meals being served. Heartaches. Loneliness. Snoring at night. Candles moving from room to room in the darkness. Crickets outside all day long in the shade of the trees. A nice lazy hammock on the second floor balcony for afternoon naps. The sound of the screendoor creaking open then slapping shut. Wagons arriving with goods then leaving. Horses tied up out front, though I don't see a hitching post. Birthdays shared. Holidays. Yup, this building was important and would have stories to tell. A moment frozen in time that cannot show the life that was lived there. Oh for a time machine and a chance to travel back for a day. To stand in front of this building and turn a complete 360 to see the surroundings. I can get lost in these places.

A FOGGY DAY in London town?

I found this snapshot in an antique store. Though small in size I knew that once enlarged there would be something interesting. That's what I like about found photos. I've said before that you often don't see the details upon first look.

I often see other collectors, whether in books or online,  stating that they are presenting the shots at 100 percent size so that the viewer can experience what it was like to find the actual photo. Not sure completely how I feel about this because for me the image, the content of the image, is what's important. I want to be drawn into the image and I don't put as much value on the actual object I'm holding in my hand, which is often quite small. I think of the person that took the photo, what they saw at the moment they took the shot. They wanted to capture something that was before them which, let's admit, was not tiny. Obviously we aren't going to experience any of the found images life size, but we have the ability to enlarge them and look into the world, examine it for the details. 

I have no idea where this shot was taken, but for me it's full of mystery. From the details of the signage I'd say it was taken in England in the 40s or 50s. To the left is a sign "Gould Dispensing Chemist" which sounds very English, possibly Canadian. 

I find it interesting that all of the people are almost neatly grouped in a vertical which adds to the overall vertical feeling of the shot. The man about to disappear down the side street with the woman in uniform following behind. There are a lot of stories that could be spun about what appears here. I imagine a freeze frame in a movie while opening credits run, the music then fades, and this photo comes to life with all the people moving. Which one is the main character of the story about to unfold?

In honor of CHINESE NEW YEAR

Last summer I was wandering through my local flea market when I spotted this vintage photograph. I was immediately drawn to it, asked the price, and was told 3 dollars. Okay, first thing you need to know is I'm cheap. Very cheap. I put the photo back down and told the woman I'd have to think about it. I wandered around unable to concentrate on anything else I was seeing. Three dollars. I was stupid to not grab it. But then I kept thinking where will I hang it? It measures 12" x 14". Not huge, but just not sure what to do with it. Obviously I went back and said "I'll take it!" Had a bit of a scare because the woman had hidden it behind a stack of cheezy paintings and I immediately was mentally hitting myself upside my head thinking "FOOL! It was only 3 bucks!" She'd hidden it for me so nobody else would buy it. Nice lady. Anyway, enough about how I found this and a little bit about the photo.

The photographer was Mervyn D. Silberstein and this hand tinted photo has a date of 1914 beneath his name.

Mr. Silberstein was born in 1885 in San Francisco. However, he was raised in Healdsburg, California, north of San Francisco in Sonoma County. His father owned a dry goods store. While attending college in Healdsburg he took up photography. He was already a cartoonist and a writer for a local paper, the Sotoyome Sun. Eventually he opened his own photography store where he sold supplies and did photography work for the local community.

In around 1909 the Silberstein family moved back to San Francisco. Mervyn got a job at an advertising agency where he did graphic design, then called commercial art. He is responsible for the FTD Mercury symbol used by the florist industry.

He was fascinated by Chinatown and it is here that he took this photo. His work around Chinatown, mostly photographing children, covered this part of San Francisco following the great earthquake of 1906. He took mostly snapshots, though some photos were posed with costumes.

His photos were marketed as both postcards and, as he called them, Chinee-Graphs which were sold in wooden frames like shown surrounding the photo above. The frame on mine is original. He claims that his work had been shown in art galleries around the country. I do have one review written by C. S. James, Critic Picture Department of the high end SF department store S. & G. Gumps stating, "...Mr. Silberstein's pictures...belong to an entriely higher class, being worthy of being classed both in photography and painting as art works."

Mr. Silberstein died in 1956. Currently the Healdsburg Museum is the repository of much of Mr. Silbersteins work, including his cameras. They can be reached at P.O Box 952, Healdsburg, CA, 95448. Phone number is 707.431.3325.

That three dollars was worth every penny because looking at this smiling "grandfather" with the child always makes me smile. I get drawn in wondering about the people, if their relatives are still alive living in the SF/Bay Area. I wish there was more information online about Mr. Silberstein. You can find more examples of his work at the Online Archive of California located at Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Do a search of the page and about 3/4 of the way down you'll find a list of Silberstein's photographs, one of which is of this same elderly man and child, but a slightly different shot.

To see either of the images above larger simply click on the image.

Seriously, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

"Ben, let's get a picture of Ben, Jr. standing next to his brother...I mean the tv. Okay, Bennie stand to the side, yes...smile. Show grandma your missing teeth. No, no...don't step in front of your brother...I mean the screen. That's right. Oh you look so precious. Doesn't he look precious? Bennie pull your jacket down a little on the left, it's' riding up. Ben, would you fix Bennie's jacket? And why don't you hold Uncle Jake's picture. No, just on the corner, don't get in front of...of the...screen. Just put your arm around your brother for crying out loud...I mean the tv. Okay, that's good. Ben, how does it look in the camera?"

"Mom, my arm hurts."

"Just a minute Bennie. Ben TAKE THE PICTURE! Bennie's arm hurts. Ohhhhhhhh...that's just precious. Just precious. Grandma is going to be so happy to see the two of you together."

And so goes another day in the world of vernacular photography brought to you by "One Can Only Imagine," the reality that never existed.

WHAT ABOUT Bob

or is it 808? I'm never sure. It seems pretty obvious that Bob/808's jersey was hand painted. You can see the paint running from the bottom of the letters. Was this Bob's own private team or was this a high school with few funds in the 1930s? And to get even a little weirder, was his name Bob Kittens or was he playing for a team named the "Kittens"? Just another one of those eternal vernacular photography questions. Who are these people? What are they doing? Where did they come from?

Here's to Bob, or team member 808, of the rough and tumble Kittens basketball team.

BLESSED ARE THE WEAK

I am so moved by what is happening today. All who came before who never believed they'd see a day like this. I imagine this woman is long since gone, not here to raise her voice in a song of joy. But I look at her smile and imagine her thinking, "Someday. Someday."

 

THIS ABOUT sums it up

On this historic eve these photos seem to sum up all of it. We're sick and disgusted we've had to live through the past 8 years, makes us want to vomit, but...

now we're hopeful we're on the right path. Look both ways, drive carefully, be courteous to other drivers, pay attention to what you're doing, and head for your goal. Good luck to all of us. Ladies and gentlemen...start your engines!

Click on images to see them larger.

HERE'S TO THE LADY we can't remember

She'll forever be nameless, but let's hear it for the lady who was there at the beginning. The party animal we both became. Was she traveling alone? Off to see the world after working her entire life in a small office receiving no respect? Did she go to the limbo class? And when we docked was she off on a pure Hawaiian adventure with a beach boy in an outrigger canoe? Oh, it gives the heart pause to think that maybe she lived out her fantasies on our little fantasy island.