Category Archives: Groups

October 31, 2015

Peekaboo Bust

By C.E. Ryan
Peekaboo bust. RPPC. Private Collection.

Peekaboo bust. RPPC. Private Collection.

Oh, yes, I know…this RPPC is in terrible condition! Yet there’s more to it than what first appears! Of course we see the three posing buddies to the right, and then there’s this man in the store behind the front windowpane. Why is he posing from the inside? Was he curious and thought he wouldn’t appear on the picture?

And then, and then…wait! Isn’t this a white bust peeking on the side. It looks as if it slid from behind the corner to take a look at what’s going on. :)

"Yoohoo! I want in, I want in!"

“Yoohoo! I want in, I want in!”

And looking closely, there’s a fifth creepy looking guy in the shadow of the store entryway. And a third grinning face by the guy in the window -pareidolia or something else? ;)

On the back is written “Tripo-Center”.

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918

Happy Halloween! 

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Groups, RPPCs

October 27, 2015

So Bummed…

By C.E. Ryan
Tintype. Private Collection.

Man with eye injury and his friend. Tintype. Private Collection.

This unfortunate gent with the injured eye had to wear a bandage wrapped around the head for his portrait picture. He looks so down. Was he in pain and worried he’d lost an eye for good? Let’s hope he fully recovered, otherwise he was going to have to get used to it and looking at his expression he wasn’t in the least thrilled.

His friend is wearing a lucky horseshoe tie stack…I wonder if he was with the other man when the accident happened. They have boutonnieres too, one has it on the coat lapel and the other on the cravat. But if they attended an event that day, this poor lad doesn’t look like he was in the best mood to be social.

Today is not my day…pout.

Also, the backdrop design looks Arabic with a tall waterfall in the background. The right panel looks like a completely separate design, the painted window looking more American with the bottom panel supposed to slide up.

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Groups, Tintypes

October 23, 2015

Slick’s five friends were cool kids

By C.E. Ryan
Slick's Friends. RPPC. Private Collection.

1910s-20s Slick’s Friends. RPPC. Private Collection.

Who was ‘Slick’? He had some photogenic friends. The two with the hat tucked behind the ears look like brothers, maybe even twins. The one on the left was quite relaxed while the one on the right was a bit like “hmm ok, I guess it’s going to come out like it’s supposed to come out…”. They all posed outdoors on a log bench in front of a wall of vines, leaving us with a slice of everyday fashion from the era, and wondering what they were really like.

RPPC: CYKO 1904-1920s

6 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Groups, RPPCs

October 17, 2015

A tiny remnant of our friendship

By C.E. Ryan
1

1″ x 2.5″ photo strip. Private Collection.

Those tiny photo strips feel so fragile in hand. One wonders how they survived a hundred years without being destroyed. I love these two. Obviously they were quite close. Yet we don’t know their names or a shred of their lives.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Groups, Photobooths

October 16, 2015

A flashy smile on a tintype

By C.E. Ryan
A particularly flashy smile on a tintype. Private Collection.

A particularly flashy smile on a tintype. Private Collection.

These two dapper gents in their 30s are posing in front of a cloudy and hilly backdrop all smile! The people with them must have said something really funny for them to look this entertained! This tintype seems late period, maybe around 1910. Their popularity dropped in the first decade of the 1900s, but they were still fairly common with travelling photographers until the 20s.

The glare is from a small bend in the middle reflecting the scanner light. Unfortunately many tintypes have such bends through decades of handling.

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