Comfortable Reader

Her relaxed pose and attire, reading the cartoon page of the paper on a warm early Fall day, says it all. White shoes and stockings are hard to keep pristine, and she may have grass stains on her dress, but she doesn't seem to care (I repair physical damage to a photo, but I draw the line at digital laundering and shoe polishing, which makes me no gentleman. Sorry, Mom!)

Look Out!

The male of the species at any age has little defense against this sort of thing. At her tender age it is unintentional – or at least I suppose it is. I can remember being felled by eyes like these as early as kindergarten. 

Hair Hat

Why spend good money on a hat when your hair can BE your hat. Very stylish and the wind won't send it down the street! In monochrome you can't tell if those luminous eyes are crystal blue or hazel; I say hazel – so there!

Harvest Time

When I first saw this scene I knew it was from England or Scotland, perhaps even Ireland, but though the photographer's name and place of business is stamped into the cabinet card mount, I cannot be sure if it is Ledburgh in Yorkshire or Ledburgh in Scotland (I think the former is likely). This wonderful image came to America with some family member but no one bothered to write on it, so our impertinent curiosity is unsatisfied.

This is surely a commissioned photograph because the entire family and perhaps hired workers are arrayed before the cottage with their fine equipment. Is the man standing in the foreground with arms folded the head of this large family, or would that be the gentleman holding the hand of the little girl in the center of this group of forty. Everyone's attention is on the camera, even the one man who has paused in the process of forking hay into the machinery. Every manner of dress is here and there is such a lot to look at!

It is nearly impossible to have this many people in a photo without someone blurred because they moved at the moment the shutter was tripped, but sometimes there are circumstances that cause you to speculate on the reason: notice that two of four blurred faces are the young girl behind the baby stroller and the young fellow just behind her – he is in the process of moving his hand into the pail in his hand, making you wonder if he has just pitched something at her, causing her movement! Not that far-fetched, is it now? The boys sitting along the top of the machine (where else would little boys be?) are surprisingly still and unsmiling; the only real smile is the young man just below them.

The steam tractor is running, the belt driving the combine is in motion, as are all those exposed pulleys – mechanized farming was even more dangerous then than it is now. It is a fine autumn day, leaves are just beginning to fall. There are two bicycles against the stable wall, and a sack on a handcart that could only be rivaled by the sturdiness of that baby stroller! I have given you a closer view below.

Welcome To Our House?

Here is a modest farm and home with no signs of poverty, but these folks don't seem to have a lot to be happy about if their expressions are any indication. Perhaps they are not versed in the social graces. One doesn't imagine that they went out and engaged a local photographer to make this record, so we may guess that a traveling photographer dropped by and persuaded them that it was something they wanted, and the photo survived.

Only the daughter is dressed with anything like a nod to prevailing styles, which makes you wonder what expectations she may have had for a life beyond this dour family group. Yet we, for whom snapping pictures is a part of life, can only go so far in imposing our world view on people who may never have thought about owning a camera and may have been very uncomfortable with having a photograph taken. They may have been fiercely proud of their place; they may have been kind and helpful even if undemonstrative and retiring neighbors; they look at the camera without pretension – they are who they are.

This photo suffered from very strong light that washed out the far right of the photo; I have repaired it to some degree simply because no one intends for a photo to have defects of that nature, so when I restore the effects of age in an old print, I often correct what the photographer could not.