If I could ask this handsome couple one question, it wouldn’t be, “Why does it look like you’re in North Africa?” No, it would be, “What is your relationship to each other?” My first assumption was that they were sister and brother, based on the way they’re posed in the studio. Then I noticed she was wearing a wedding ring. Well, they could still be sister and brother. Or, they could be a couple who just had an argument … because they’re lost in the desert.
She appears to be wearing a locket:
I think he wins the sartorial prize, though, for his polka-dotted bow tie:
The cabinet card was made in Topeka, Kansas, at the studio of James H. Leonard and H.T. Martin. According to an interesting blog about Kansas history, the partnership lasted from 1874 until about 1887.
So, what do you think? Are they siblings or are they a couple?
Tokens of Companionship 
Could be either siblings or a married couple but I wonder if their positions have more to do with the studio setup than their feelings about each other. Also his hair or rather the lack of it makes him look like he just got out of prison!
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Well, you WOULD think of prison, ha ha! To me his haircut just says “Kansas.”
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Maybe they just want it to look like theyre “not in Kansas any more”.😊 what strikes me is how young they both look.
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Yes, just starting the great adventure of young adulthood.
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I vote siblings. Look at their ears!
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Yes, hard to tell. I’d love to see them both with their hats on. Great photo!
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Yes, the hats! Very becoming, I would think, though not adequate for desert hiking.
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Siblings – same mouths!
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You’re right! I hadn’t focused on their mouths. Their faces seem to have the same expression because their mouths are exactly the same.
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Intriguing. They do seem to have similar mouths and ears–but what very different eyes!
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Like you, I first thought brother and sister. They are very ‘distant’ from one another for a married couple if that’s what they are… intriguing!
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I vote for siblings. If they are a married couple, it appears that marital therapy is indicated.
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Ha! 😀
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Siblings. Ears, mouths, eyebrows, shape of face. Not sitting together because the rock’s too small for both of them and anyway he’s got a backache… doesn’t bode well for his later years, does it? 😉
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The rock loveseat must be in a different part of the studio. 😀
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Haha! You could be right!
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I vote siblings. There’s something in the shape of their mouths and they have the same left raised eyebrow…maybe. I’m not sure exactly they just seem to share a quality of appearance and even in the way they hold themselves and look into the camera. I love your title! Made me giggle 😄
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This photo ALWAYS makes me smile. I try not to make fun of anything on the blog, but this one is too much, with the fellow sitting stiffly on a rock, and the swamp with palm trees in the background…. Thank you for reminding me of this old favorite! 😁
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Looks like siblings to me. May be the way she stands, taking a prominent position in the frame. (In olden day photographs, isn’t the prominent position reserved for guys?) A sister with her younger brother?
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In group pictures, the central position would usually be occupied by the oldest member of the group or the youngest (such as a small child). With couples, the woman would often be standing and the man sitting, in order to make the grouping more compact. A tall standing man might be hard to fit in the picture, but if he’s sitting, that isn’t a problem. In the photo above, I think the man should have been standing as well as the woman, because his rock doesn’t look very comfortable to sit on. 😁
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Haha. I think I haven’t been as observant as you with photographs! Somehow, I thought that in wedding photos, guys would be standing and ladies on the chair! Or is it culturally different inEast and West? 😂
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Oh, conventions do change over time. In the early decades of photography, I think the decision to have the man sitting was mostly practical, rather than cultural. In the category of Couples here on the blog you can see some other examples. From a modern cultural viewpoint, I agree that it would seem more natural to have the man standing and the woman sitting.
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