Despite our species having lived for thousands of years, photography is relatively young. It was 125 years ago that Kodak sold its first camera (named "No. 1"). They were large, cumbersome objects that cost the equivalent of $600 in today's money.
A museum is displaying some of the very first photos taken with these cameras. Ordinary people, not professionals, used this equipment for the first time. Here is a sample of those pictures, from the 1890's.
I find them poignant on several levels. What do you think of them? Do you like to take pictures?
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(Just kidding with this last one.)
I actually giggled out loud at this. What an interesting photo you chose to share...haha! Thanks for the shoutout :) The subsequent laugh was definitely appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI saved that picture of you several weeks ago. Your facial expression and pose amuses me a lot. I tweaked the picture a little with photo-editing and had no idea if or how I'd ever use it. Until this morning. Glad I made you laugh.
Deletegreat photos! thanks for sharing the oldies (and the latest photo is very-very nice)
ReplyDeleteI love old photo's (and new ones!) my secondary school used a photographer with an ancient 180 degree revolving camera, we were stood still for 5 minutes! (how old am I? hehe!!!) x
ReplyDeletePhotographs are always emotionally moving. Something about a device that captured light at a moment in time and created an enduring image evokes contemplation and sometimes, a welling of longing for a moment, feeling, or time that has passed and can never be recovered.
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible! That last one wasn't too bad either, hehe :D
ReplyDeleteGreat post ... as always.
ReplyDeleteI love taking photos as memories of what I have done ... I am certainly not into the intricacies but like the fact that I have the memories and then I put them into a wonderful scrapbook which further enhances the memories ... even a bad photo can look good on a beautiful scrapbooked page.
Lovely post! I actually collect interesting antique/vintage photos. I'm always in awe of the stories they could be telling.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous old timey photos! I love the connection to the past they create. In (modern) archaeology, we focus NOT on the big treasures and 'important' (read 'famous') people, but on recreating the lives of the everyday person, for that's what most of history (and prehistory) contains. These photos are wonderful examples of what that connection can create, the understanding and insight it gives us into our past and our present selves.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved art, so photography has been a huge part of my life and work. My favourite are black and white photography. :) /Madison
ReplyDeleteI love black and white and sepia photos, the kids fishing and the girl reading are my favourites. They have something special that colour photo don't have but then sometimes it's lovely to have a picture in full colour that picks up on all details
ReplyDeleteHi Ally,
ReplyDeleteOh, you know I love photography in a big way
Thanks for sharing these pictures, they're awesome.
My love of photography
I was thinking of you, Wendy, when I wrote this.
Deletei read about the history of sunglasses over the weekend--so random, but i love knowing things. i loved this post!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, the last one made me laugh :) Photos for me are a great way to capture memories. I love that smart phones and social media has made it really easy to document our photos!
ReplyDelete-Sharon
The Tiny Heart
Scarf Giveaway!
This is really interesting to see - there's always a lot of character and so much to learn from these photos. LOL at the last photo! Caught me by surprise . Have a great weekend
ReplyDeletethat exhibit is one I'd love to see. i love looking at old photographs, they have so much mystery to them. Your mind wanders off on a tangent, I always end up wondering what it would have been like to live in the time of the photographs. my fave old photographs are the ones my grandma has. i swear, nobody smiled in pictures back in the day!!
ReplyDeletealso, the last photo made me laugh too!
and yes, I like (ha ha love) taking pictures!
DeleteThe first recorded account I have of my interest in history and all things vintage actually has to do with old photographs. According to my paternal grandma, at the worldly age of two, I would pull her albums of old family snapshots off the shelf, but instead of using them as play things or worse, wrecking them, as many a toddler (quite understandably) might have, she says that I would sit on the couch and be enthralled by (looking at) them for hours, asking her a seemingly endless stream of questions about nearly every one (and she tells me that she sweetly answered them all - aww!). I was hooked then and have remained so ever since. I feel such a special bond with old photos and still spend a decent chunk of each week looking at them (online, usually) now that I'm all grown up.
ReplyDelete♥ Jessica
I love photos, especially old ones. It makes me sad to see boxes of them in antique type shops though, I wonder how they got away from the family to end up there. My husband has just inherited lots of photos of his family which date back to the Edwardian era and there was even one which looked like a group of gypsies but we have no idea who they are as we'd never seen the picture before and now the only one who would know is no longer here.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. It's sad when family photos are orphaned. My dad gave me a shoebox full of old family photos and we sat down, he told me who everyone was, and we wrote their names on the back.
DeleteThankfully I did this with photos my nan gave me, after speaking to my great aunt. It's sad not knowing the names in pictures. I'm glad you were able to sit down with your dad.
DeleteI love that first one shot within the canoe! That is just lovely!
ReplyDelete-Jamie
ChatterBlossom