Ovis Aries Pastoral

This pleasant pastoral landscape of a small herd of sheep with their owner was likely taken by an amateur, someone in the farm family with a small view camera using glass plate negatives, to be added to the family album; that it also has dramatic light and is well-composed may have been intentional or pure happenstance – almost anyone can take an exceptional photo occasionally even if they have no "eye" for technique or composition. It is small: 2.5" X 5".

All we have for specifics are the clues to be read –

Location: there is a mountain in the background; the trees are a mix of deciduous, spruce and white pine; the fence is unusual because it is mixed rock and rails – so I suggest appalachian range, perhaps Virginia or West Virginia, and unlikely a western ranch locality.

Season: late summer or fall based on corn shocks in the distant field and the size of the two lambs in this group.

Time of day: the direction of the sun, if it is eastern U.S., late morning.

Date: the power pole on the left suggests 20th century, as late as the 20s or 30s when rural electrification became more prevalent, though it is odd that there is only the single pole evident.

As with conjecture, I could be wrong about any of the particulars. What do you think?

The Ruins

If unanswered questions bother you, photo collecting is not for you. Most antique photos are unsolved mysteries in monochrome.

How many photos have you taken that are identified? You know what they are because you took them for your own reasons, but if you don't write a subject or date on the back (use pencil; I have repaired enough ink stains from the faces of photos to last me the rest of my life, and I plan for it to be a long one) you are creating a problem for someone else when you no longer remember or aren't around to answer questions. That is not a crime on the books as far as I know, but it is a surefire recipe for frustration.

In the last 20 years I have photographed most of the foremost cathedrals, abbeys and castles in England, Scotland and Ireland (yeah, I know, my travels are boring affairs), but this ruined church isn't ringing any visual bells (and I have a pretty reliable camera in my brain) or it is not in the venerable isles at all.

If this large cabinet print is contemporary with the carriage then it might be at least 150 years old, but there is no way to be certain. The figure, who moved slightly during the exposure, wears a white hat that we often connect with the european colonial period. The only thing we can say with any confidence is that it was likely taken by a tourist as a souvenir of travels. That is about it.

Rural Village of Dunstable, Massachusetts

Here are two 8-inch glass negatives that were marked Dunstable, Massachusetts, a rural village settled in 1656 and incorporated in 1673. Google Earth shows that though it is still rural by today's standards, everything you see in these scenes appears to have been stripped away in the name of progress. It is difficult to determine when they were taken, perhaps as early as 1880 or as late as 1910 (some research into maps of the period might shed more light if they identify structures, land ownership, etc.). 

When you have more than one image taken at the same time, there are serendipitous discoveries: the photographer took the close view above while standing in the carriage – the top edge of the wheel is just showing on the lower edge of the negative (which I have cropped out), then he left the carriage in the lane and climbed the slope of the field to get the more panoramic view below (the crop shows carriage and horses).

We can determine that it is a late autumn day by the remaining leaves on the trees, but the low angle of light is greater proof. The tiny cottage in the center foreground, perched on the bank of the pond, has suffered the collapse of much of its foundation and it appears to teeter precariously. The wider view shows church, wind-driven water tank, and a building with a cupola that may be a town hall, and lots of houses and barns. There are metal advertising signs nailed to the sheds along the road advertising boots and shoes, Singer sewing machines, and a clothing store in Lowell: We Outdistance All Competitors, Boston and Lowell One Price Clothing Company.