Tag Archives: smiling

June 7, 2015

Harris Norris, the Thinker in Mary-Janes

By C.E. Ryan
Man in mary janes shoes. RPPC. Private Collection.

Edwardian man in Mary Jane shoes. RPPC. Private Collection.

Harris Norris. University of Virginia

I did a double take on this one. Look at this cheeky gentleman! While today these shoes are exclusively worn by women and girls, I read on (the always reliable *cough cough*) wiki some pre-WWI men wore them too, but apart from this photo I have yet to see evidence of this and I’ve seen many. I believe that if some did indeed wear them, the shoes were never popular with gentlemen. By the time this image was taken the name of Mary Jane was already in use. I think the university student was being humorous by wearing ladies shoes! He’s smiling in that “what do you think of this?” sort of way. This was taken in the mid 1910s, seeing the pants cuffs.

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Gentlemen, Humorous, RPPCs

June 3, 2015

The city father and his two dapper sons

By C.E. Ryan
1880s tintype. Private Collection.

1880s tintype. Private Collection.

This one made me laugh some. The father in top hat looks quite stiff looking straight to the side, while his two sons didn’t miss the camera, each posing with confidence.

The one in the middle who appears to be the oldest of the two looks casual of demeanor, relaxed even with a smirk on his face. The youngest -I wouldn’t put past 16- is taking this occasion seriously, strutting his stuff in fine evening wear with the nice white tie. What a dandy!

The dad’s gloves are so tight fitting they look painted on.

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

May 28, 2015

‘Drink this, it’ll put hair on your chest, son.’

By C.E. Ryan
Father and son in top hats. Tintype. Private Collection.

Father and son in top hats with a stiff drink. Private Collection.

Teaching the boy the grown-up ways! This father is posing with his little man with the adult sized top hat on his head, and he’s acting like he’s going to share a stiff drink with him. He found it humorous to pose with his son this way, and I do too! His son is holding on to the hat and looking at the bottle with keen interest!

After the picture I see the dad giving a sip to his eager boy and laughing at his reaction, and the little one saying “Eww…how can you drink this, dad?!”.

This tintype is quite endearing, and -bonus!- it has top hats. The father has that cheeky Harrison Ford smile too, doesn’t he?

It’s easy to imagine the son holding on to this photograph throughout his life, and with a fond memory of that day.

Creative Commons License
Digital restoration work titled “Drink This, It’ll Put Hair On Your Chest Son” by Caroline C. Ryan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Boys, Groups, Humorous, Tintypes

May 16, 2015

Out of the sewer pipe

By C.E. Ryan

RPPC. Private Collection.

Look at these two lovable dorks (brothers?) with the big smiles, popping out like rabbits out of what looks like an old sewer pipe. Posing silly like this is so much more interesting, isn’t it?

This one got lost inside the vortex that is the USPS. So sad. Maybe someday it’ll eventually make its way to me…

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

May 7, 2015

When life is a beautiful day

By C.E. Ryan
1/6th plate. Private Collection.

Circa 1890s-1900. 1/6th plate. Private Collection.

These romantic four got their picture taken on rocks in the outdoors. There’s such a positive, happy vibe to them. Though they are in nature it looks like they may have been at a city park, or at least near civilisation. They’re dressed city-like with bowties for the gents and white dresses for the ladies. My guess is they attended a happy semi-formal occasion and a photographer was hired to take pictures of the attendees.

I like seeing pictures of gents with their hat tilted far back. The one with the bowler looks like he’s cracking up about something. I love it when everyone smiles on tintypes. The ladies are gorgeous too. The guys are probably feeling lucky!

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

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