It looks like some sort of gathering. Anyway, I have no idea what kind of cars these are, and the picture is too out of focus to do a good match. I did the first thing I could think of and went online and looked up the Ford Model T. After all, it was the best-selling car from the era. I found an ad for Ford cars from 1923, and it could be a match.
I just picked this photo up today, and I figured I'd better get it posted as soon as possible. It's small, really small. 1.25 x 2 inches, and I need to get it into the storage box before I lose it. Anyway, I don't know what to make of it. Clearly, it's from before the age of the photo booth. It could be a contact or reduction print. I'm not aware of any film this small manufactured in the 19th or very early 20th century.
Just because it's so damn hot. There's a Granite Dells sign in the background. The Dells is an area near Prescott, Arizona, and yes, it does snow there. There was a Granite Dells Resort, so it's possible that's what the sign is for. I could go for a bit of snow, right about now.
An attractive young lady standing next to a statue of, I assume, Casimir Pulaski. Pulaski was a Polish patriot who came to the colonies, joined the revolution and is regarded as the father of the American Calvary. He was born in 1745 and died, in battle, in 1779. I looked for photos of memorials to Pulaski, but couldn't find a match.
Platoon 35. On July 6, 1948, Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, integrating the United States Armed Forces. This photo is dated July 1, 1950, so it's one of the first integrated Marine Corps training classes from Parris Island, in South Carolina. Unless I missed someone, I counted five black troops in the class. Anyway, a fair amount of info on the front of the photo. M.C.R.D. stands for Marine Corps Recruiting Depot. Just for the hell of it, I did a search for the three sergeants named, H.A. Eravi, H.E. Moore, and P.H. Myers. Nothing came up. There is an Ashley Moog, professional photographer located in Beaufort, South Carolina. A daughter or a granddaughter of the Moog credited as the photographer on the front of the print. Possible, perhaps even probable, but not guaranteed.
I've been making occasional trips to an antique mall in L.A., and every time I go there, I find another picture or two of shipboard life. Anyway, it's become clear that they are all from the same source, and since I have no idea how many more, I'll find, I've gone back to the other two posts I've put up and added "life aboard ship collection" in labels so those who are interested can see everything already posted. Anyway, I'm still thinking ocean liner. The Matson Line sailed from the California coast to Hawaii, and, of course, there were ships sailing to the far east as well as the far shorter trip to Catalina Island, just off the coast of Southern California.
The other side of the previous post. The top photo is a postcard. As usual, when posting an album page, I show the whole page to show position, then the other photos individually. Click on The Trips Collection in labels to see the rest of the album. and fair warning, it will be a while before everything gets put up.
It's been a long time since I've posted anything from this photo album. The fact is, it's a real pain in the behind to disassemble the pages, scan, and then replace the page in the album. Call it laziness if you want. Anyway, this album is another example of true found photography. I was walking down the street, there were a bunch of garbage bags on the sidewalk, and this album was sticking out the top of one of the bags, and since it wasn't covered in some sort of nasty crap I wouldn't want to touch, it came home with me.
Chitzen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Mayans. It's located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Chitzen Itza is translated as at the mouth of the well of Itza. The Itza were an ethnic-lineage group that once was politically dominate in the Yucatan.
Click on The Trips Collection in labels to see what else is up. Fair warning, it will be while before the entire album gets posted.
I'm not sure how wise this crowd of what looks to be teenagers were, but at least it's a crowd.
A fascinating face, indeed. There's something a bit masculine in her visage. The chin and brow line seem more male to me than female. I know I'm probably wrong, but I think there is a slight chance that this woman is actually a man. I spent decades working in photo labs and one of the things that I learned is that if people can think, they'll do it and take pictures, and a lot of men think about wearing women's clothes. But what about when this picture was taken. I started my lab career after the invention of the Polaroid camera and worked into the digital age granting a certain amount of anonymity to those men wanted to wear a dress. Did professional studio photographers of the nineteenth century have special times to take photos of special customers? Probably.
Once again, I haven't started collecting sports cards. Once again, I am the type of person who picks up stuff off of the street. And once again, something I found. Quite a while ago, actually, but I knew the World Cup was coming to North America, and Los Angeles, my hometown, so I've been saving it for an appropriate time. Truthfully, I'm not much of a soccer fan. It's one of those sports that I can take or leave. If a game is on TV, and I've nothing better to do, I may watch, but it's not something I'll make the time for. Having said that, if a free World Cup ticket fell into my lap, I'd go. After all, the World Cup is an event that goes beyond the sport itself. Anyway, I looked it up. Caden Clark is not on the United States World Cup team, but he's only 23 years old, so maybe next time.
Badminton was one of those things that were part of small town and suburban 50s and 60s America. People had money, and leisure time so why not a backyard net and a game or two before dinner. Note the woman in the background is playing in a skirt. Not a tennis skirt, just an ordinary, everyday wear skirt.
Once again, I haven't started collecting sports cards. Collecting is an addiction, less expensive and healthier than heroin, but it can take over your life, so no sports cards. I am, however, the type of person who picks up things off of the street, and when I saw this hockey card, I decided to save it for the Stanley Cup finals. Anyway, there are two types of sports fans. Those who stay loyal to the teams they grew up with, and those who don't. I've lived in Los Angles more than half of my life, but I still root for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. The Penguins didn't get into the finals, so the best I'm hoping for are good games. Halfway through the first period, Carolina 2, Vegas 0.
So, in honor of the Cup, Petri Skriko, born in Finland, drafted by the Vancouver Canucks and played for them from 1984 to 1990. In 1990 he was traded to the Boston Bruins, and then to the Winnipeg Jets, and finally his NHL career ended in San Jose, playing for the Sharks in 1993. He also played professionally in Finland, and Denmark, as well as for the Finnish national team. He is tenth all time in goals scored for the Canucks. A good career, but not hall of fame.
The man in front is in his army uniform, and the man on the right is all navy. At least that's what the bit of his collar, the only bit of clothing that can be seen, looks like. How about the man just behind the woman with the fur stole? An all-military reunion? Almost certainly from World War 2.
What is the T.C. W. Co.? It's in the lower left corner, so maybe this isn't a school class photo. It probably is. All the children look like they are around the same age, and they are in the classic class photo setup. Also, 2908, which is also visible in the lower left corner. Is that a date? August 1929? The clothing and hair look right for that era.
Well, I haven't been posting anything for a while, and my only excuse is sheer laziness. I just haven't felt like it. So, now that I'm back, I thought it was time to put up the final five photographs from the Hamburg Vacation Collection. (Go to labels and click on that to see the lot. There's no rhyme or reason to the order, so start anywhere.) To recap, if I were to give an honest name to this blog, it would be The Newly Purchased Photography. Almost all of the photos I put up have been bought in antique stores, thrift stores, or online. Once in a while, however, I actually do find old photos, and this collection is an example of that. I was walking along the street, and there it was. Color snapshots taken in Hamburg, Germany blowing around, and envelopes of old negatives. I thought about digging out the light box and matching up the prints to the negs, but I was worried that, on my limited income, I'd end up spending money on having prints made from any negatives that I couldn't match to a photo, so I didn't.
No, I haven't started collecting sports cards, and if I were to, I wouldn't buy one in such lousy condition. I was out riding my bicycle today, and there it was, lying on the street, and clearly the worse for wear. Anyway, I have an appreciation for players like Charlie Puleo. He played in parts of nine seasons, had 387 strikeouts, which isn't all that bad. Also, a so-so 4.25 career ERA, and a 29-39 record. He played for the Mets, Reds, and Braves. He was born in 1955, he is still alive, and while he never became a star, he has nothing to regret, either. Let's hear it for the journeymen.
I have a few more faded prints in the box, but I'm going to move on for a bit to other things. I think, but I'm not sure, that at least some of this series come from the same source.
Returning to the faded photos series. I think youngish ladies, though the image is so faded I can't be sure.
I have this stack of faded photos I was going to post in a series, but I got distracted, so before I go back to faded photo land, an Easter themed photograph.
Written on the back, "Easter 1954 Mike-6 1/2 yrs. Linda-4 1/2 yrs. Green dress, white shoes, socks, purse & gloves. Blue suit, brown shoes, white shirt and brown bow tie." I guess the parents were worried that they wouldn't remember what their children were wearing.
Continuing with this brief series of faded, old photos. Anyway, I buy the occasional lot of photos, usually an envelope, where I want a couple of photos and end up with a few extras. This is one of those extras, and like the next couple I'm going to publish, it was printed on cut up real photo postcard stock.
It looks like a faded picnic with a sign off to the right that says, "RUMFORD." Did the Rumford clan reserve a table in the local park? Probably.
I buy a fair number of photos as lots. I'll buy an envelope, usually to get two or three prints, and while many of them are interesting, I wouldn't buy them as a stand-alone purchase. Anyway, I have a few faded prints that have been sitting in boxes, and not in the queue for publication. What fascinates me about fading prints is the symbolism of people and history disappearing in plain sight.
That's the name that's written on the back of this wallet sized photo. Whenever I have a name on a photo, I do a quick Google search just in case I can find something out there. I found two Ethel Rabel's, one married in 1907, and since it was rare for women to keep their maiden names back then, well, it's possible, but unlikely that the Ethel Raebel from Wisconsin is the woman in this picture. The other Ethel Raebel, from South Dakota was married in 1940. Anyway, the hair and clothes look like they could be from the 1930s, so a possibility.
This is a fairly small print, and when I just looked at it, I wondered what the woman on the left was holding. Then I scanned it and blew it up and got a good look. It's the family dog.
As a former professional black & white photo printer, I can say that black marks on a print are where white light is getting through the negative, and white is where light is being blocked. It looks like there were some slashes in the negative's emulsion, and the white part on the "4" and that squiggly white line below the other black slash is where bits of the emulsion is still attached to the neg, just not where it should be.
I'm a lifelong atheist, but as a child I was forced to go to church. Back then, people wore what was known as Sunday best, clothing that wasn't worn any other day of the week.
The penultimate post in this series. I'm not going to write a lot about this selection of true found photographs. All I'm going to do is recommend that those who are curious, to click on Hamburg Vacation Collection in labels, to see the first 10 posts, and to read about how I actually found these photos on the street. I don't know when I'll get around to the final chapter of this series, so be patient.
I purchased this photo from the same antique store and at the same time as the previous post, and while I can't be sure, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was taken by the same photographer. There's nothing on the back to confirm that, but from Aubrey Studio, La Puente, California. Does anyone out there know what those things are in the background. And once again, going by the hemlines and hairdos, probably from the sixties.
Why is the woman holding up a toilet bowl plunger to one of the models? Maybe she was Miss Plumbing Supplies. Anyway, I've been picking up a few photos, either taken by a professional photographer or an advanced amateur. In the case of this photo, a pro. Stamped on the back, "AUBREY STUDIO, 120 N. First St., La Puente, Calif., 91744" I went online and ran variations of Aubrey Studios, La Puente, and came up with nothing. Going by the hairdos and hem lines, I'm guessing the swinging 60s.
This reminds me. I need to go to the camera store and buy some Polaroid film. I wish Impossible Project hadn't stopped making Spectra film. I liked that format. Anyway, this really is an old-style Polaroid film that required a paper cover to be peeled off the image to complete processing. I'm fairly certain this is a Polaroid Series 20 film, made for the Swinger camera model made between 1965 and 1970. Of course, the film packs were manufactured long after the Swinger went out of production, so this photo could have been taken after 1970, but the well-groomed hippie beard on dad screams 1960s.
Just a nice photo of a sunny Mediterranean Island for all those who are snowed in. Written on the back, "57 Porto Cristo." Porto Cristo is a fishing village on the island of Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, and an autonomous part of Spain.
