Polaroid, Old Style

 

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.  

The Family That Stares Together, Stays Together

 I've mentioned this before.  I didn't start this blog to share my found photography collection with the world; I started it because it was scattered all over the place and had become too large to easily view.  Anyway, I found an old box of photos while cleaning out a closet and wasn't sure if I had already posted them.  I have, after all, been at this for more than 15 years.  So, I laid out a dozen or so of them on the table and went back and had a look at everything that's been posted.  It took a while.  The idea was that if my small sampling hadn't been added to The New Found Photography, I'd assume that none of them had.  None of them had, so the good news is that I don't have to buy any more photos for at least a few months.  And no, I don't think this trio is on something.  

Don't Forget the Dog

  

Written on the back, "July 1952  Ruth, Clint & David, Clint's son."  A farm family?  Perhaps a house right on the edge of the new, post-war subdivision?  Was Clint a widower or divorced? 

Leona & Bob

 

Written on the back, "Leona & Bob and the Magil family.  San Mateo 1952."   Fascinating.  The Magil family appear to be Latino.  

Random Japanese Snapshots 5

Since my scanner inexplicably stopped working and then, equally mysteriously, began working again,  I've decided to put up another post from the Random Japanese Snapshots Collection (Click on that in labels to see more.)  Anyway, there's nothing written on the back of any of these prints, but there is a stamp on the back of the middle photo with the truck.  "28. 2. 27" I'm tempted to think that's a date in the European style with the date first, then the month, and then the year.  But the truck doesn't look that old. My guess is it's from the forties or early fifties, which would make this a post-war photograph.  
 

L.A. Family Photos 2

 

Each one of these three photos is labeled "White Oak Lodge."  The top photo is also labeled "Paul, Clara, Joy, Ralph."  Needless to say, there are a lot of White Oak Lodges, Oak Lodges, and variations thereof in the United States.  I'm going with the one in Tehachapi, Kern County, just north Of Los Angeles.  For those who were wondering, the white "1929" on the front of the prints was made by writing it on the negative with a dark ink.  Click on LA Family Collection in labels to bring everything up. 

Family Outing, Sunday Best

 

 I don't think I've published this one before, but it came out of the messy miscellaneous box, so I'm only somewhat sure.  So, parents and child?  I'd say more likely grandparents and grandchild.  Why is it that people used to dress up for everything?  I feel sorry for the kid in the suit and tie.  He probably would have preferred wearing something where he could roll around in the dirt.  I know I did when I was his age. 

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 18

 

There's nothing written on the back of the bottom photo, but I suspect it's a family photo.  Once again from Stara Zagora.  Click on The Bulgarian School boy Album in labels to see more. 

Karsh of Ottawa

It's interesting to see what can be found on EBay.  I was just shuffling through old photographs when this image caught my eye.  It was, of course, a nice studio portrait, but what really drew me in was the printer's mark in the lower right hand corner.  "KARSH OTTAWA" refers to one of the most famous portraitists of the 20th century.

 Yousuf Karsh was born in 1908 in Turkey.  He was a survivor of the Armenian genocide.  In 1923, he arrived in Canada and was taken in by his uncle, a studio photographer who taught his nephew the trade.  In 1932, Karsh opened a studio in Ottawa, the capitol of Canada.  He would eventually land an important client.  Mackenzie King was the Prime Minister of Canada, and he not only sat for portraits of his own, but began arranging for Karsh to take portraits of visiting dignitaries.  In 1941 he took  a picture of Winston Churchill that would become the single most reproduced photographic portrait in history.  In 1945 Life magazine paid Karsh $100 for use of the Churchill portrait  on the cover.  After that, Karsh would receive a number of commissions from Life for other portraits of some of the most prominent people in the world.  Karsh died in 2002.

Take a look at the soldiers uniform and a patch can be seen identifying him as a member of the Dutch army.  The most obvious explanation is that he was in exile from the Nazi occupied Netherlands.  It was almost certainly taken after the Churchill portrait.

The Photographist

When I first started gathering up old photographs, I was only interested in cabinet cards, CDV's, and glass negatives.  Mostly, because they were really, really old.  Of course, back then, in the late sixties, World War 2 veterans were everywhere, and I knew quite a few World War 1 veterans as well.  In fact, I knew a lot of people who were born in the 19th century.  I knew people who could tell me about the first time they had seen a car, an airplane; the first time they had heard a radio or seen a talking movie.  Somehow pictures from the recent past seemed far less interesting.  As time passed and as people born in the twenties, thirties and forties became fewer in number, the photographs they took became fascinating to me.  And now, for some unknown reason, I've started looking for really, really old images once again.

It didn't take a lot of research to dig up some info on J. K. Patch of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.  Jonas King Patch was born in 1824 and became an itinerant photographer in the daguerreotype and tintype era.  Eventually he settled down at one location, in Shelburne Falls, and opened a studio.  Jonas died in 1909.  He had several children, one of whom, Henry S. Patch followed in his father's footsteps and took over the studio.  Henry was born in 1856 and died in 1939.  I found a notation that Henry gave up the studio ten years before his death.  I also found a brief notice where Jonas was referred to as a prominent photographist.  A term I've never run into before, but I like it.

From the Philippines?

As I noted on my last post, I bought three real photo postcards, in an envelope, but I don't know if they have any relationship other than the same seller.  So, is this a photo of a young Filipino mother and daughter?  Could be.  In any case, it's a far more pleasant image than a horse getting butchered.

The Senior Strangler

Admit it.  The old lady is about to strangle her husband.

The Final Melvine Album Page

This is the third, and as of right now, the final Melvine album page.  Melvine was a little girl from Buffalo, Wyoming, at some point moved to a suburb of Seattle, and eventually ended up in the military.  Other than that, I don't know anything about the lady.  Click on Melvine in labels at the bottom of the post to see the other two pages.

Anyway, it's kind of hard to read the white grease pencil captions, so top to bottom of the individual photos. 1. On the side of the image, "New Years Day In Buffalo." and underneath, "Nell & Marie."  2. "Larry Fritz Bud Hal."  3. "Melvine Marie Nell." 4. "Dad Mom." 5. "Dad Mom Buffalo Wyo." 6. "Mom & Dad Buffalo." 7. "Melvine" 8. "Jerry Melvine Larry Bev." 9. No caption. 10. "Aunt Mae & Uncle Ray."

Farm Family

I have to point this out.  The two ladies on the right look fairly masculine.

Choking Grandpa

Is it just me?   The high collar, the stiff pose, the blank, lifeless stare.  Doesn't Grandpa look as if he's about to keel over?

Written on the back, "Rhoda."  Processing stamp on the back dated "Week Ending Jan. 28 1956."

No It's Not.....

Harold Lloyd.  Same glasses but it's not him.  So was this a popular eyeglass frame design or was this guy a fan?

Christmas In California

I don't know how well it reads on a computer screen, but the photo credit in the lower left corner, "LEONARD'S STUDIO, THIRD & BROADWAY, SANTA ANA, CAL"  Written below that in pencil, "Dec 25th 1925"  Let's be honest, there's a difference between playing in the snow and living in the snow.

Back Home In Indiana

No, this picture does not go with the last post that was also from Indiana.  I bought them a couple of weeks apart from two different sellers.  Anyway, it's quite a family.

Shadow Photographer

If a professional photographer had taken this picture, it would have been considered a mistake.  A pro would have put the sun behind his subjects.  No shadow, and no squinting.  Collectors of old snapshots, however, don't see a picture like this as a mistake but as a great find.  That shadow, cutting into the image, is a mystery that draws the eye.  Perhaps professional photographers could learn something from all the amateurs out there who don't worry about the position of the sun.

Fast Times

What a pair.  The old guy, so proud of his beer, and dark beer at that.  And the little girl, no doubt a grand daughter, poised to pedal away once the proud parent, and somewhat embarrassed child, can work that damn camera.  Please don't let our precious little girl grow up to be a drunkard like dear old dad.

Written on the back, "At Dax Garage."