Mystery Woman

I'm going to be really embarrassed if someone leaves a comment identifying this lady as their mother, but I'm sorry, I think this is a picture of a man.  That jaw line, those bushy eyebrows.  And the hair...well, it looks like it might be a wig to me.

I spent decades working in photo labs.  I printed many an amateur pin-up, naked wives and girlfriends, the occasional naked man, and yes, pictures of people having sex.  But by far and away,  the most common "private" subject, was men dressed as woman. Many were fairly obvious; some were so good, I only knew because I was told.  And, obviously, there were probably some that I didn't know about at all.

 There are still plenty of conventional photo labs around, as well as a growing number of labs that specialize in digital photography.  Fair warning!  Photo lab workers collect favorite pictures.  Ladies, if you went to a lab to have that special photo printed up for your boyfriend,  more than likely it was taped up on a dark room wall.  I knew one guy who had albums full of pictures of nude and scantily clad women.  And yes, there are collections of guys in dresses that will, one day,  end up on EBay.

War Is Dull

Watch a war movie and you'd think World War 2 was non stop hell.  The reality was that most members of the military were support personnel and for them the conflict was more boredom than terror.   My father was a ninth grade drop out who could do complex mathematical computations in his head.  That skill got him four years in a darkened room breaking codes.  He was stationed in England so he was able to get out and about, but he still spent  most of his time on base.  In the Pacific, the island campaigns were about capturing islands with airfields.  The marines would land, fight for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months.  After  the island was taken, the air corp would move in.  For the air crews, there were missions over Japan.  For the ground crew, it was servicing the planes and waiting for the war to end.  If they were lucky a USO show might come through.  If not, they had to amuse themselves.  It looks like these guys decided to put on a show, and in the all male environment of a Pacific island air base, someone had to play the girl.

Number 750, Men In Skirts

 I don't know why 750 is a significant number.  I get the whole three quarters to 1000 thing, but why is it better than, say 800, 8/10s to 1000?  Anyway, going on tradition, it's time for another visit to the lightly visited early days of The New Found Photography in honor of post number 750!

As I've mentioned more than a few times, I spent decades as a professional black & white printer.  In all those years, I printed thousands of negatives of men wearing women's clothes.  Some were like these two guys, fooling around for the camera.  Some were guys who went all out, with not just clothes, but wigs and make-up.  And some were so good, that if I hadn't been told, I would have assumed they were actual women.

Children in Dresses

I may be wrong, but I think the taller of the two children is a boy. His mother must have had a unique sense of humor. His little sister seems shocked and confused.

The German American Collection, Man in Hats

Poor guy. With that bewildered look on his face, I'm betting he was wondering how he was talked into trading hats with his lady friend. And then, out came the camera! Click on German American in the labels section for more from The German American Collection.

Amateur Glamour, Dodging and Burning, and Man Drag

Look at old newsreels, and you'll notice that when the average person was interviewed they stood stiffly and spoke in a monotone. Today, everyone knows how to perform for the camera. I think the same is true for photography. Once the necessity of standing absolutely still to compensate for slow shutter speeds was no longer an issue, professional photographers could pose their subjects in a greater variety of positions. It didn't take long for the amateur to emulate the pros. This photographer may not have realized that he was emulating someone like Louise Dahl-Wolfe or Cecil Beaton, but he was. The side profile and angled horizon line of the first and second shot in this collection have been used by every fashion photographer in history. Take a look at the third image of the group. Notice the light area around the subject. Dodging and burning is a method that printers use when there is detail in the negative but the shadow areas print too dark and that detail goes solid black, or the highlights print too light and what little detail that prints through seems to be floating in a sea of pure white. To burn is to selectively increase exposure in an area of the print. The printer would make a general, over-all exposure, and then make a second exposure on the paper while obstructing light in those areas that would be considered properly exposed. Dodging is when the printer makes a single over-all exposure while obstructing some of the light in the shadow areas that would print too dark, turning black, with no visible detail. Even though this image was taken in direct sunlight, our photographer could have avoided the need to dodge and burn by using a flash to balance the light. And now for the final image from our photographer. Today, if someone is in drag, it's a man in a dress, but it wasn't that long ago that a woman dressed in male attire would have been just as out of place in the general scheme of things. Written on the backs of the second and third image, "Fairgrounds 6/47" On the back of the cross dressing photo, "3/28/43"

Three Gals In Slacks, One Guy In a Skirt

As I've noted before, I spent decades working in photo labs and I don't think I ever had a week go by when I didn't print some sort of amateur picture with a sexual theme. I had lots of women in lingerie, nude, and the occasional photo of people having sex. But, the surprising thing was just how much gender bending, mostly men dressed as women, there is out there. This guy was probably teasing his gal pals about not wearing skirts and before he knew it, they had turned the tables on him. Is the photographer another guy in skirts waiting his turn in front of the camera, or gal pal number four? If this guy is your father please leave a comment.

What Dealers Do, A Boy and His Bra

Another example of how antique dealers destroy collections. According to the seller, this is a self portrait, from the 1940's, of a young man named Eddie Harbaugh. It seems that Eddie was a photography mad young man who had no one to pose for him, so he made up an album of self portraits. This is a tiny print, only 1 1/2 x 1 7/8s inches in size. I never saw the whole album, but at that size, there may have been hundreds of separate images, and if Eddie was willing to take a picture of himself in a bra, who knows what a treasure that album was. Sadly, we'll never know, since the dealer tore it apart, and sold the photos separately.

Women of the Theater

This photo was very likely cut out from a bigger print. While it's possible that this might have been from a costume party, I think it's far more certain that it's a photo from a theatrical production at an all girls school or a woman's college. On age, my guess would be from the late nineteenth century or early twentieth. The seller told me that it was from an estate in Maine.

Woman as Man

A woman dressed as a man, probably from the 20's or 30's. A time when it was rare for women to wear pants.

Rural Cross Dressing

This is either a picture of a man in a dress or a very ugly woman. I found this in a box of dollar snapshots in a junk shop. One of the interesting things about collecting old photos is trying to guess context. This makes me wonder if these two are a gay couple living in the country.

A Cross Dressing Proposal

The man kneeling, proposing to his girlfriend, is clearly a woman, but is the young lady receiving the proposal a man? It sure looks that way. As I've noted before, I spent years working in photo labs, and I don't think I ever had a week go by when I didn't print some sort of picture with a sexual theme. I've done lots of amateur nudes, lingerie shots, hard core sex, and the surprisingly popular cross dressing images. Give the guy some credit, he went all out. The makeup is pretty good, he shaved his legs, and learned to walk in heels.

Male Bride, Female Groom

When a couple decides to cross dress, and they are not the same size, it's not a spur of the moment lark, it's something planned. This farm couple, way back in the 1920s 0r 30s, at some point, decided to take some wedding photos as the opposite sex. On the horizontal image, it looks like they've got a child joining in on the fun.

Burlesque Show

I bought these negatives at a thrift shop. They were labeled "burlesque show." Burlesque was more than just strippers. There was also music and comedy. I'm guessing that this performer, with her (his) interaction with the band was probably more of a comedian than stripper. So why the "his" in parenthesis? Take a close look at the picture in the bikini top. That's either a photo of a very boyish looking woman, or a very slim young man.

Men In Skirts

Entertainers or two guys on a lark. Who knows, maybe they lost a bet. Perhaps they just like to wear women's clothing. I spent years working in photo labs, and I don't think I ever had a week go by when I didn't get some sort of picture of naked people, people in some sort of sexual situation or men dressed as women. My guess is that this photo was probably taken during the twenties or thirties. I can see the skirts, but the shoes?