Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
This carte-de-visite has me stumped. I assumed the girl in the image would be easy to identify, but so far that hasn't been the case. At first I thought she was holding an oar, but a rower I contacted told me it was a paddle. Well, that's a start! Actually, I think the most interesting... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card portrait was made by a photographer named G.J. Maddison, whose studio was at 9 Norfolk Road in Dalston, which is in the London Borough of Hackney. (In 1938 Norfolk Road was renamed Cecilia Road.) I haven't found any information about Maddison yet. Among the boys, we can see tennis rackets and... Continue Reading →
In the previous post we were in Kolkata, West Bengal. This week we're in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. We've also traveled back in time another ten years. As you can see, it's a little colder in St. Louis, but not too cold. A light jacket is all you need for winter sports!... Continue Reading →
If only we knew her story! Alas, she isn't identified. Her carte-de-visite was made by John Bowles Newman, whose studio was at 5, Old Court House Street, Calcutta (Kolkata). The only information I found online about Mr. Newman was that he filed a petition of insolvency in 1879. It always makes me sad to read... Continue Reading →
At the front of the group of people in this photograph are nine musicians. So it must have been a musical retreat in the woods. But wait, are the men in the second row holding baseball bats? Are the musicians and baseball players camping together? And who plays baseball in the woods, anyway? There's a... Continue Reading →
When I saw the carte-de-visite above, I wondered if it was a real scene or an elaborate joke. Could they really have sailed on ice? It turns out they could have! The sport is called ice yachting, and that's all I know about it. The guys to the left of the boat are skating and... Continue Reading →
This is the second photo on this blog showing a family in the UK in their garden with rackets. Well, only one racket, but they seem to be having plenty of fun, anyway. This is a cabinet card, while the photo I uploaded a month ago was a smaller carte-de-visite (Tennis and tea in Hampshire,... Continue Reading →
Since the U.S. Open tennis championship is ending this weekend, here's a CDV from the relatively early days of the sport. The family isn't identified, but the photo was taken by Samuel Whitbread of Havant, Hampshire.
Why is it that sibling portraits often make us smile?
I wish I could share some information about this group of young people wearing paper hats and holding oars. They seem to be very close in age. Coincidentally, their hats look similar to the cloth one worn by Walter Kleckner in his 1898 portrait at the end of the post titled "'Kangarooing' at Camp Chickamauga." ... Continue Reading →
This family came up with a variety of ways to pass their time on vacation, from fishing and shooting to playing guitar, dominoes and at least four different board games. Someone had the great idea to make a visual record of their activities. Two women in the group find the idea a little embarrassing. Some... Continue Reading →
Each cyclist in this group is holding the handlebars of the person on either side. I wonder if they stayed upright in the end? The photo is glued to a stiff piece of paper with no information about the date, place or photographer. The only clues are initials below each rider, which suggest that several... Continue Reading →
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