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Tag Archives: vintage photography

Please Help To Settle An Argument – UPDATE

June 8, 2015
Vintage Photobooth
10 Comments

photoboothGermanHatLady?

In my previous post about this photo, I attached an image of the back. I suggested that there may be more clues as to the identity of the sitter, if only I could read German. I was convinced that the photo is of a man. My friends thought it was a woman. Now thanks to a reader, Wolff Postler, we have a translation of the inscription. Wolff writes –

As far as I could decipher it, the notice reads:
Meiner Logismutter
Möll(?) zum Andenken
an den fremden
Freiheitsbruder
Ludwig Rot…(?)

This translates as “To my lodging mother Möll as a memory of the strange (weird) brother of liberty Ludwig Rot…”
The places marked by (?) are not readable.
Hope that helps – at least it confirms your speculation about a boheminan of some sort.

The translation confirms this to be a man who is seen and sees himself as strange. What “brother of liberty” meant in Pre-WW2 Germany, I cannot say. Hearty thanks to Wolff for making this interesting photo even more fascinating!

photoboothGermanHatLady?Back

Please Help To Settle An Argument

June 6, 2015
Vintage Photobooth
25 Comments

photoboothGermanHatLady?

I bought this 1930s photobooth photo thinking it was of a very unusual looking man with an even more unusual fashion sense – a bohemian, arty type. No one to whom I have shown the photo agrees. The argument is that a man of that era wouldn’t have hair styled in that way nor wear a hat, shirt or velvet coat such as these. What do you think?

The photo came from Germany and has this information on the back. I’d say the signature was Ludwig something, definitely a male name, but it may not be a signature at all. I’m sure there will be more clues to the identity of the sitter if I could read more of the inscription.

photoboothGermanHatLady?Back

Bonnie Baby Barb

June 17, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
10 Comments

Pretty little Barb is posing so beautifully in this photobooth image, that it is tempting to assume that she had already been in a booth on more than one previous occasion. Barbara’s full name is hand written in ink on the back of this photo but unfortunately the script is mostly illegible after her first name. At some point someone has added in pencil, Barb, aged 4 1/2.

photoboothBarbhandcoloured

This is a large format photobooth photo that has been hand coloured. It could possibly be an enlargement of a smaller booth photo, however as there were some machines that produced larger size images, I would say from the quality and crispness of the photo that this is indeed the original size.

Barb is wearing what I think is a lapel boutonniere, which I believe is the correct term for a flower that has a small tube water supply, that can be attached to clothing. I am not sure of this interpretation, so please take a look at the detail below and let me know what you think.

photoboothBarbHandcoloured detail

Detail

The photo measures 60 x 83 mm and came from the USA.

Beautiful Jazz Age Dude

June 10, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
17 Comments

Cool tie, cool hat, sharp lapels – what a dude. And such a beautiful sanguine face! I love his slightly raised eyebrows, almond eyes and half smile. I feel very warm towards him, as there is something in his expression that suggests kindness and charm.

The background in this booth photo is very unusual, so I would suggest it was added by the owners of a club or bar where the booth was situated.  It is undated but I would guess, based on the quality of paper and the clothing style, it was taken sometime in the 1930s. There is self-adhesive album residue on the back (those albums date from the 1970s) which suggests it was loved and cared for for many years after it was taken.

photoboothAfricanAmericanManSanguine

The photo is of a slightly larger size than most of my booth photos. It measures 65 x 78 mm and came from the USA.

Sailor Boys In A Booth

June 3, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
12 Comments

These two boys are a wonderful pair. What a lovely affectionate pose! They are cute as all get out, with their rakishly tilted caps and loose neck ties, not to mention the rose bud in one lapel. There heads just resting together and those smiles, make me love them both. The feminity of the features of the owner of the magnificent ‘tache made me think briefly that it was a woman in drag but I have dismissed that idea. Do you agree?

photobooth2sailorsGreatMo.

 

This photo comes from an album of photos that mostly were dated 1941. It measures  37 x 52 mm and came from the USA.

Movie-of-U Inside Out

June 2, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
16 Comments
Movie of you Front

Front

I bought this rare type of photobooth photo from an online seller in the USA. I have others in my collection, three of which you can see here. When it arrived it was in a parlous state of repair, being in two pieces and covered with brown paper tape to stop the photo inside from moving. None of the item’s problems were listed in the  advertisement.

After numerous emails where the seller accused me of creating the damage, I finally got an agreement to a refund but it cost me more to return it (it had to be sent registered post), than the item originally cost, leaving me out of pocket by $18. Having had to scan the photo to prove that the item had arrived in poor condition, I decided the best way to ameliorate my bad feelings about the whole affair, is to do a blog post about how the mechanics of this type of photobooth item works. I hope you find it interesting.

Movie of you Back

Damage and brown paper tape on back.

movie of you without photo

With back and therefore photo removed. You can see the marks on the “lens” that gives the illusion of movement when the item is squeezed.

Movie of you Inside

The inside of the item, showing the lens and photo. The image has three distinct images overlapping and printed together. The lens separates each image and the illusion of movement is created by squeezing the sides of the frame.

 

 

Kids and a Camera in a Photobooth

May 31, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
9 Comments

This is the type of picture that everyone who collects photobooth photos wants to own and will be willing to pay a high price to get.

photoboothKidsWithCamera

The above photo of two young chaps posing with an Imperial box camera, was highly sought after on Ebay. As most often happens, I was unable to compete with more highly cashed up collectors when it went up for auction early last year.

Judging by the black paper background, I think this photo was one from Broken Heart Gallery, the shop of Albert Tanquero who did a guest post for me last month.

It is a standard photobooth print size of 40 x 55 mm.

Two Old Birds In A Photobooth by Ted Strutz

May 21, 2014
Photobooth Stories
6 Comments

Last week I published two strips of photos from Ted Strutz in the USA. It was accompanied by a witty history of their creation. The success of that post lead to an idea – would he be willing to write a short story about one of the strips from my collection?

Below Ted has used his creative writing talents to illuminate the booth images, below, using two of his favourite characters Ethel and Cheryl.  They do so look like an Ethel and a Cheryl don’t they? Please enjoy his story…

IphotoboothTwoHappyLadiesSeniorPower

TWO OLD BIRDS IN A PHOTO BOOTH… A Drabble

“Cheryl!!!” (said in a whisper)

“What???” (a whisper back)

“What am I supposed to do?” (still whispering)

“What the hell are you talking about, Ethel?  Why are we whispering?” (a little louder)

“I’ve never done anything like this before.  (still whispering)

“Stop whispering, dammit. It’s a photo booth for God’s sake!!! What did you think we were doing?” (increasing louder)

“I know it’s a photo booth, Cheryl! I’ve just never done it before. Where do I look?” (normal tone)

“Here, where it says ‘Put Eyes At This Line’!!!” (very loud)

“Now what do I do?”  (normal voice)

“SMILE!”

a light flashes…

 Please click HERE to see the original post on Ted’s blog where you will find many other stories and more of the adventures of Cheryl and Ethel.

If anyone else would like to write a small piece using some of my photobooth photos (chosen by me, emailed to you) as a prompt, please get in touch!