The Bulgarian School Boy Album 6

It's time to return to The Bulgarian School Boy Album.  The earlier posts can be seen by clicking on, you guessed it, The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels at the bottom of the post.  And yes, I do realize we've got some Bulgarian school girls as well.

250,000

Sometime in the last 24 hours I went over a quarter million page views.  This photo was posted way back in June, 2009.  It wasn't the first thing I posted, but it was in the first month of The New Found Photography.

A Face in the Shadows

Jack and Bob are identified, while the woman, her face darkened by a shadow, is left anonymous.  Take a close look at the car window.  There is another face that can be barely seen.  Is it a reflection of  the photographer's face, or someone hiding in the backseat?

Snow Ball Fight

Pre World War 1 I would think.  Maybe even late 19th century.   All those white spots on the one woman's coat looks like she's been hit by a few snow balls.  She seems to have had some winter fun.

Lipstick

I don't want to come off as some sort of weirdo who sees cross dressers everywhere.  Just a few posts ago the woman in the photo seemed kind of masculine to me and I couldn't help but speculate.  And, here we go again.  After scanning this fairly small photo, I blew it up and couldn't help but notice the broad forehead and strong chin.  The hands seemed kind of large.  But what really made me wonder was the hair.  What's visible looks like it's cut short on top, far closer in appearance to the guys hair in this image.  All three photos have something written on them.  The top, "Crazy fails thought they had pretty legs."  The second, "Big kids" on the front lower border, and on the back, "Same two boys &  myself."  The hand writing is a bit different, and too, black ink on the front, red on the back.  I scanned the back of the third print to show the lipstick print, but there is some weird implications in what's written.  To start with,  Eddie would normally be male, while Edie would be female.  Eddie Bauer versus Edie Falco. Sedgwick, Brickell, just to give a few examples.  Also, who ever wrote this makes o's and a's , not necessarily the same, but close enough that Eddie Boys and Eddie Bays are both equally possible, and if it's Eddie Boys it could be a subtle hint.  And finally, just read the whole thing.  "The girl-Eddie Boys (Bays) are a couple Ed and I went with for a while."  Are Eddie and Ed the same person?

New Pages

After the photo lab I worked at went out of business, I ended up working on movie sets as a background actor and stand-in.  When I found this picture I knew exactly what it was.  The man on the right is an assistant director or production assistant and he's delivering new script pages to the actors.   Too bad their faces aren't visible.  Who knows, those two might be really famous.

Sailing

I always wanted to learn to sail, but I don't think it's ever going to happen.

Holding the Photographer's Purse

Memorialized forever. 

Showing a Little Leg

Leopard skin jacket, hiking up her skirt just enough, and a bit of snow on the porch.  And what is that thing in the lower right corner?  Is it a barbecue?  Why isn't barbecue spelled with a "Q"?

More Swapped Photographers

 

Every time I run across a group shot, whether it's two, three or more people, I always know that one member of the group didn't make it into the frame.  The photographer just doesn't make the cut unless the camera gets passed around.  Now, these are very small prints.  I can cover them with my drivers license.  After I scanned them and they came up on the screen something didn't seem right to me.   So, I enlarged them as much as possible, and I think all four of these people are men.  I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.  Labeled, "Berwick, Pa 1919"  Berwick is near Wilks-Barre, anthracite country, lots of coal mines.

Swapping Photographers

There's always someone who doesn't make the shot, and that's the person with the camera.  Unless the camera gets passed around.

Those Clouds

Those clouds are in an almost perfect position for this photograph.  Printed on Ilford paper, so there is a high probability this was shot in Europe.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 5

Winter and summer in Bulgaria.  There is the same lab stamp on the back of the first print in the column as there is on the prints from the first post in this series.  I finally got around to actually counting the pages in this album and I've decided to break things up, so I'll be returning to regular programming with the next post and pick things up again in a few weeks.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 4

Bulgarian school boys hanging out with a professor, Bulgarian school boys goofing off in science class?  The second print has an actual confirm-able date.  Translated from the Bulgarian, "28 September 1942."  As mentioned in earlier posts, Bulgaria remained neutral until late 1941.  With the failing Italian invasion of Greece, Hitler decided to bail his allies out, and more or less forced a decision on the Bulgarian government.  The German army was going to march overland to Greece whether Bulgaria liked it or not, so capitulating to an ultimatum, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers.  There had been an unofficial fascist movement in the country, led by retired general Hristo Lukov and Tsar Boris III was  not unfriendly to the Nazi movement.  On the other hand, Bulgaria had one of the more active and widely supported resistance movements in Europe.  The Union of Bulgarian National Legions, the fascists,  and the anti-fascists were both popular with the young, so it's at least somewhat possible that the young students in these photos would choose opposite sides and end up fighting and killing each other in the war.  While Bulgaria did not join the German invasions of their neighbors, they did occupy parts of Yugoslavia and Greece, and when borders were adjusted after World War 2, Bulgaria ended up as the only Axis power to add territory.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album n labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 3

If this album had been all studio photographs it would be interesting, but not all that interesting.  There are a few more studio shots left,  but we're starting to get into candid and unposed photos which are far more compelling, at lest to me.  It's clear from the top shot that the uniforms are most likely school uniforms.  Obviously children rather than adults, though it possible that the uniforms could be from a military school.  On the studio shot, I'd love to know if the older gentleman is a teacher or a parent.  The most likely explanation is teacher, but Bulgaria, if not already in the war, would have been preparing for war, so a lot of people were probably in uniform.  There is some writing on the studio photo.  "1520/41  941"  And a phonetic translation from the Cyrillic to English, "St Zagora," clearly a reference to the city of Stara Zagora.  I've come to the conclusion that the numbers that have been showing up on the back of the studio shots are negative reference numbers so the customer could call up and order more prints. I do, however, think that the numbers after the slash could indicate the year.  In 1941 the Bulgarians ended their neutrality and entered in to an alliance with Nazi Germany. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 2

Well, there's certainly enough writing on the back of the second print.  Too bad I can't read any of it.  That second gentleman looks a bit more adult than we've seen before, and once again, I've got wonder if the 1811/40 could be a date.  This time it could make sense, say November 18, 1940.  If so, that would put things during Wold War 2 while Bulgaria was still a neutral country.  That would change in the following year when Bulgaria joined the Fascists.  Even if these photos were taken a few years earlier, I'm sure the students in these photos must have been preparing for war.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 1

One of the nice things about eBay is that I can add photos to my collection from around the world.  I bought this album from a seller in Bulgaria.  According to the seller these are school uniforms, and with no way to contradict him, I'm taking him at his word.  As usual, I'll be posting one image of the full page to show position followed by a single image of each individual print.  Two of the prints on this page could be removed from the album, and the stamp is from the first image in the column.  At first, I thought that the hand written letters might indicate a date, but on closer examination I questioned that.  39 could mean 1939, but I don't see how 3088 can be translated into month and date.  So, let's just call it a mystery.  I can read Cyrillic lettering,  Foto Diana from the top line is pretty obvious, and Stara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria.  My guess is that the second line is some sort of street address.  The front cover of the album is a slightly textured brown, which I didn't thing worthwhile posting.  The label for this collection is The Bulgarian School Boy Album.  I haven't decided if I'm going to post everything without a break, though I think it more likely that I'll have a few breaks along the way.  And yes, I do realize that the second photo is a school girl.  Girlfriend or sister?