Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
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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