House Proud

I'm always finding photos of people posing on their lawns.  I couldn't help but notice, on these two, that the top photo shows the neighbor's house.

A Bored German

He looks like he'd  rather be hanging out with his friends  than sitting with Granny.  Anyway, it's printed on Agfa-Lupex paper, so it's probably from Europe, and Germany is a good bet.

Out of the Shadows

Really liked this photo so I bought it.

Three Generations

Is the girl in front a scout?  It's cookie season, and I've found myself running the gauntlet of Girl Scouts selling cookies.  It's not that I have anything against cookies.  As a matter of fact, I like cookies.  I just can't afford them, so leave me alone!

House Beautiful

Was this their house?  Was this the house they were going to buy?  Was this the house they would have bought had they made enough money?

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-Me, Without Her

Since I'm spreading this collection out over such a long period of time, I suspect I'm going to be typing out these explanations quite a few times.  I bought a collection of old photos and album pages from an eBay seller who assures me they are all from an estate sale.  I have my doubts.  There are a few repeat characters through the lot, but not many.  Too, there are a lot of different locations, too many I think.  Anyway, that's why I've chosen  The Here, There and Everywhere Collection, which is also the clickable label at the bottom of the post that calls up whatever is up and ready for viewing.

Written on the back of this photo, "Me & Her 1918."  At some point, her got cut away from me.  I suspect me got another her in his life.  No location, but someplace snowy.  It looks like the man in this image is shoveling snow in front of a church.

Mother Stealing Pat's Bike

Okay, the actual caption is "Mother & Charlene Pats bike."  But let's be honest, Mother may have had light fingers and she may have been riding off to the local bicycle fence.

Farewell MC, Farewell

I'm miserable.  I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, it ended, and now I've got another one.  I think I did this to myself.  I've always moved around Los Angeles in a variety of ways.  I grew up in a small, rural town where most people walked long distances, and that's a habit I've never broken.  I get around on my bike, I drive, and I use mass transit.  Anyway, I turned 62 in January, qualified for a senior's transit pass, so I'm spending more time on the buses, trolleys, and subways, surrounded by coughing people.  You'd be surprised  how many people fail to cover their mouths while hacking away.

So, I really need to get some rest, but my throat's sore, so I can't get to sleep.  So, what else is there to do but add another post to The New Found Photography.

Written on the back, "MC Farewell, Bernice Huestis, Dixie Holden, Norma Sharp, Rosanut Schwick."  And yes, I did look up Rosanut, and it is a real name.  The photo was printed the "WEEK OF JULY-57."  What's interesting is that this photo was taken just twelve years after the end of World War 2.  We like the image of huge numbers of American women trudging off to war work, but the fact is, most stayed home.  Most women who worked in war plants were lower middle class and below.  This doesn't look like a wealthy household, so I'm betting that at least one or two of these ladies built a plane or two, their husband or boyfriends came home and they became housewives.  Were they bored by afternoon parties, or relieved to be at home.  Depends on the woman, I guess.

Small Town, Small Photograph

This photo is just a bit over one inch long, and appears to have been cut from a larger image.  Late nineteenth, early twentieth century would be a good bet.

Fishing In Florida 3

Those are really big fish.  I'm fascinated by the musicians in the fourth photo.  Were they hired to provide entertainment for a fishing trip, or did they hang around the docks hoping for a tip for a song or two?

Fishing In Florida 2

There is only one photo in this entire collection that has any labeling, the third in the column.  "Dugger"  I'm assuming that's the name of the man in the picture.

Fishing In Florida 1

All I know about these snapshots is that they are from Florida.  My guess is that the collection comes from the twenties or thirties.  I keep reading that commercial sport fishing is on the decline because there are fewer and fewer really large fish.

Light and Dark

As a former professional photo printer, I'm rather fascinated by how these two photos were made.  Did the lab have some sort of  automatic printing machine that pulled the film through the enlarger,  making all the prints, using the same setting, or did the printer look at the negs, make a quick guess as to the proper exposure length and F-Stop?  Whatever the method, the results left something to be desired.

The labs I worked in were considered custom labs.  I'd put a neg in the enlarger, make an exposure, dodge and burn as necessary, and keep working until I got a good all around print.  Every once in awhile, we'd get a client who asked for a machine print.  We didn't have any printing machines like the ones found at the Photo Hut, so I'd put the whole roll on a light table, make an estimate and then print every frame the same.  In time, I became so practiced that I could get a good custom print on the first couple of tries, and I could get that good middle ground estimate for an entire roll with little more than a quick glance.

Now, there is always some confusion as to why F-8 has a larger opening than F-16.  It's quite simple, F-Stop stand for fractional stop.  F-8 is one eight the focal length of the lens, and F-16 is one sixteenth.

Stamped on the back, "A Madson Print, DEC  31, 1935, CHICAGO."