There's not much to say about this collection that hasn't already been said. This collection is true found photography. I found them all on the street. Some are dated 1989, so I'm assuming that they are all from that year. To see other photos, click on Hamburg Vacation Collection in labels. There are many more to come, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting them.
I can't be certain, but my best guess is that this is a military hospital ship. But is the man on the right a doctor or a patient?
My guess is from the 1920s to the early 30s. The photographer's shadow intrudes.
The S.S. Drottningholm was built in 1904 by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Scotland. Her first owner was the Allan Line and was named the Virginian. During World War 1, she was chartered by the British as a troop transport. Sold to the Canadian Pacific Line in 1917 and then sold to the Swedish American Line in 1920, renamed the Drottningholm, and operated by the line until 1951, then sold to the Home Lines, an Italian company that renamed the ship Brazil. The ship's final owner was the Hamburg American Line, which renamed the ship the Homeland. She was scrapped in Italy in 1955.
It's partially obscured, but I'm fairly certain that this postcard is postmarked, "NEW YORK N.Y. SEP 10 5 P.M. 1947." The message, "The time is getting closer but just to say "Hello" Feeling fine and all looks interesting-Don't forget to write. Love Ingrid." The card was mailed to "Mrs. Imogene Abzug, 1342 Sunland Ave. Jamestown, N.Y."
And the captions, BREKVORT CARTE POSTALE, S.S. DROTTNINGHOLM, SVENSKA AMERIKA LINIEN, SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN. Printed in Sweden, 45.1 55,000 11.6.47, 645."
Written on the back, "28th Dec 1947, Doris June, Emily, Vida, Dicy. Our feet got lost somewhere in the camera. Ha." What kind of name is Dicy? It has to be short for something. There's also a processing lab stamp, "JAN 1948 STUDER S. A. TEX." I assume that S.A. stands for San Antonio.
There's no name or date on this portrait, but because of the sepia style, I'm guessing it's from the World War 2 era. Anytime I see a war era, any war, photo of a soldier, I always wonder if they came back. And not just alive. Did they come back physically and emotionally whole?
It doesn't really read on the scan, but there's an embossed credit on the lower right corner. "Portraits by White, CAMP BLANDING, FLORIDA." Stamped on the back, "FROM WHITES PHOTO STUDIO MAIN P.X. CAMP BLANDING, FLA."
There's a fair amount about the history of Camp Blanding online. I'm not going into a great deal of detail, but an overview. Camp Blanding opened in 1939 as the main training center for the Florida National Guard. During World War 2, Camp Blanding was used for the training of nine different infantry divisions, as well as one parachute division. It was also a POW camp for captured German soldiers. For a while, there were so many soldiers stationed at Camp Blanding that it was the fourth-largest city in the state, with over 10,000 buildings and 125 miles of paved roads. I wasn't able to find anything about White's Photo Studio. My best guess is that he was a professional studio photographer in nearby Starke, Florida.
It looks like this one was cut down from a larger print. And it's still out of focus. With those haircuts, I'm guessing the 1920s. With the exception of the kid in the lower left, who is looking down, all appear to be little girls. Notice that he's wearing an Indian headdress with a single feather.
I'm in the Screen Actors Guild, and I get these things every awards season. I was going through some drawers, and I found some cards from different nominated movies. I was going to throw them away, but I figured, what the hell, they've got photos on them and there might be a few people out there who'd find them interesting. Nyad was released in 2023, so the QR codes on the back of the card are long dead. And, by the way, Nyad is a pretty good movie.
