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Gypsy's Travels


Monday, May 5, 2008

Odd Shot on Monday - "An Unexpected Photo"


Apparently, in the 1940's, photographers snapped photos of passersby on the street. This is my great aunt walking down the street, minding her own business. She is probably in a hurry, based on her stride and no-nonsense air. She might be watching her reflection in the store windows or taking stock of the new fashions displayed. The taxi at the curb helps date the photo. I wonder if she had just come from the "Optical Company" noted on the sign and she is wearing new sunglasses. She must have liked the way she looked to have bought this photo from a street photographer. It is not a Polaroid. Did she pay up front and give out her name and address? Was there a studio nearby and she went in later to pick up the photo? This was probably downtown Houston. I don't think she worked there, I wonder why she was there and did she visit often enough to pick up a photo, or was it mailed to her. We'll never have the answers.
Do you make notes on the backs of your photos, or will your descendants be speculating?
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7 comments:

  1. What an interesting odd.
    I love old photo's as have lots of my mother, same generation as your gt aunt - gee that gives my age away - lol!

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  2. They'll speculate.

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  3. Interesting premise. Nice looking relative. . .

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  4. A really good post! Thank you, Gypsy. Shall return.

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  5. My dad's old albums are well labeled--at least if you have some clue who Hal is or Enid or...

    My MIL had albums with absolutely no identification in them. We were hoping to have Aunt Tid look at them, but never got the chance before she also passed away.

    I think there's one that my FIL had before they married (he was nearly 40 when they did) that has Information.

    As to mine...

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  6. How cool is this! I wonder if they could just snap away nowadays without getting into trouble (doubt it). what a treasure you have!

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  7. Great photo! I have one of my dad, age 10, like this from the late 30s/early 40s walking down the stree, with his mother in Colorado.

    Warning: I scanned this photo, and over a period of time, it turned into a negative. From what I can gather, the photo was underexposed, and the scanning caused it to overprocess. Go figure. Fortunately we had more than one copy.

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