Category Archives: Types of Subjects

November 11, 2015

Brooklyn WWI era private signing document

By C.E. Ryan

RPPC. Private Collection.

RPPC. Private Collection.

A mystery as to what this private was handed and signed. Was the thick book a bible? A law book? This RPPC was glued to an album, effectively hiding the photographer info stamped on the back. All I can make out is the location of the studio in Brooklyn. I suspect the other two are related to him, his brothers?

Happy Veterans Day!

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918

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November 10, 2015

Tom and George Robinson in straw boaters

By C.E. Ryan
Tom & George Robinson. RPPC. Private Collection.

Tom & George Robinson. RPPC. Private Collection.

These two brothers or cousins are IDed on the back. Tom on the left looks neutral enough, but George has this ‘piss off!’ look on his face.

I would love to find more formal portraits from the 1910s with the sitters wearing their straw boater hats but, weirdly enough, I don’t come across many. Here these two match with their hats on with different band designs and colored bowties. Nice shirts too, especially George’s with the pleats. I love the look, but somebody needed to tell him to cool off a bit. :)

RPPC: Artura 1910-1924

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November 7, 2015

Mr. Prom King

By C.E. Ryan

Zamsky Studio. Philadelphia. Studio portrait. Private Collection.

Zamsky Studio. Philadelphia. Studio portrait. Private Collection.

Well, apart from saying just how obviously photogenic this sitter is…This portrait is a 5″x7″ in a 7″x10″ matte with flaps…but the mailman violently (yes, I’ll say violently) shoved it into my mailbox and bent it at a 90 degree angle. The seller never put a “Do Not Bend” warning on the envelope. I was, to put it mildly, fuming! But after some reshaping the crease isn’t so apparent and a little photoshop helped too. But…I’m still reeling. Vintage pictures that managed to survive decades if not more, suddenly damaged in shipping?  I can’t even…

But, I’ll calm down.

I wish this sitter was IDed. Pretty, wasn’t he? And as such he earned a spot in this collection. The 50s was such a wonderful yet deeply flawed decade, but its fashion aesthetics are still timelessly elegant.  I need to live in a parallel universe with today’s technology, civil rights and back then’s style. :)

Photographer: Zamsky. Philadelphia.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Cabinet Photos, Gentlemen

November 6, 2015

Overexposed in 53

By C.E. Ryan
1953 snapshot. Private Collection.

1953 snapshot. Private Collection.

The photographer most probably didn’t intend to overexpose his or her subject, but the high contrast along with the low angle works. This young man looks to be standing in front of a store awning. But what is “Waco Owl”? The back is stamped with the year.

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November 5, 2015

Sigh in Sepia

By C.E. Ryan
Sepia Embrace. PC Paris. Postcard. Private Collection.

Sepia Embrace. PC Paris. Postcard. Private Collection.

Another beautiful French postcard. Here the woman is leaning above her admirer with drama. To me her gesture reminds me so much of the stereotypical way women acted in silent films.

I have what I think may be the same couple on another. He’s wearing the same shirt too.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Couples, Postcards