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"

Behind the Screen Door

Who is the mysterious person behind the screen door? Click on the image to get a better look. Printed on postcard stock.

Abandoned Baby

I know that in the past I've written that I don't like pictures of babies, but this one has always seemed kind of funny to me. It looks like someone just dumped the kid along the road. Into the weeds where passing cars would miss him.

Rifle

If there's one thing I've learned in collecting old photographs it's that there is never a shortage of military themed photos. No later than the World War 1 era, maybe the Spanish American War.

Vermont in Color 3

On the back of the first print, the lake front shot, "Labor Day Sept. 4, 1961." On the next two photos, "Sun. June 24, 1962 1st Sun. home. She came Wed., June 20 & she & Doc left on Tues. 8-21-22 her 41st b'day." The family standing on the porch steps, "Wed. Aug. 15, 1962." And in the cemetery, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1962." It's actually rather frustrating that the person who was so careful about recording the date that the photos were taken didn't write down any names.

Vermont in Color 2

More color snapshots from Vermont! The first four photos are labeled "Fri. Sept. 1, 1961" In addition, the fourth photo is also labeled, "Our 41st Ann." I assume that is a reference to the couple's 41st wedding anniversary. The rest of the photos are labeled, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1961." And now for how I figured out that these photos are from Vermont. Images five and six are also labeled, "Kent's Museum." And the last three, "Walcott Church." I went through a road map atlas, very old school, and found all the Walcotts in the United States. Then I went on the net and began looking for a Kent's museum in one of the states with a Walcott. What I found was Kent's Tavern State Museum in Montpelier, Vermont.

The Albert Memorial

In his book about George Orwell, Christopher Hitchens argues that Orwell was unique among intellectuals in being right about the three important political/moral issues of the mid twentieth century. He was opposed to communism, fascism, and colonialism. Commissioned by Queen Victoria after her husband, Prince Albert's death, the Albert Memorial is a monument to England's colonial power as well as Prince Albert.

This is an interesting stereoview because is appears as if it might be a bootlegged copy of an original. The two images are one print, it's mounted off center, and the usual curved top of the image has been sliced of to fit on the card.