My Old Photograph Collection: The Newest Additions

I thought I'd do a little update of my old photograph collection, showing you my most recent additions.  As you may or may not know, I find most of my photographs on eBay although I have found the odd few in antique shops. It takes me a while to pick the ones I want to add to my collection because they have to 'feel right'.  I know that sounds a bit odd but there are so so many old photos out there and my collection would be overflowing if I bought them all.  I therefore spend a lot of time finding ones that fit the rest of my collection.  I love photos of people and there's usually something in their face, a warmth, a smile, an intriguing personality that gives me an instant connection to them.  Choosing the photograph is half the fun and doing so I have created a little family of strangers who are all displayed together, gazing out from my shelves. These little faces are so important to me and by displaying them and having had some of them for years they really do feel like family. 

Just to note, apologies for the quality of these shots today.  My camera SD card seems to have died on me and I don't have a spare! So these were all taken on my phone. 

 

The first of my new additions is this beautiful family portrait.  I've also photographed the back as the designs are often just as beautiful. If you look very closely at the photograph, I think the little girl is wearing a pair of spectacles but it's hard to see straight away.

 

I think this photo of a mother and her child is so incredibly perfect. The back is difficult to read and if anyone can help me decipher it I'd be incredibly grateful! From what I can read I think it says 'Dorothy Mary Fleece? Millete? Born May? 28th 1874 Aged 4 Months'.

 

The handsome photo on the left has slight damage but is otherwise very crisp and and in good condition.  I love the one on the right that captures the excitement of Christmas morning.

 

This next photo is one of my favourites. A group of young men and women who I'm guessing are siblings due to some of the similarities in facial features.  I love their expressions, clothes and also the fact it was created in a photographic studio in Glasgow. Photos like these where there are a group of interesting personalities are the kind that make me wish I could have met them.  It's quite fun to try and imagine who they were and what they were like.


 

I decided to have a browse for photographs on Christmas Eve and stumbled across this one.  The little girls dress is so sweet. On the back is the single word 'Rudge', which could either be the family name or perhaps the name of the photographer.

 

Next up is this lovely photo which has notes on the back saying that it is the 'christening of Violet'.  I think their names are Narci (sitting), Rosie (Standing) and Julia. To have names for people in photographs is just the most special thing. I got this photo from an antiques shop in Edinburgh and it was dated 1922.


 

This next photo also came from the same antiques shop and the note on the back says, ' Received this on 2nd April 1911'. I keep this one away from any light as it is quite a bit more faded than the others.

The next photo is of a solider and the photograph seems to have been taken in a studio in Saarburg.  His eyes look incredibly youthful and I'm not even sure that he has a moustache.  It looks like a mark on the photograph from closer inspection.

Lastly, a charming school photograph.  The photo itself is very small and I love how it's quite blurry, probably from the children not being able to sit still while the photo was being taken.

I have more photographs on the way and the collection is continuing to grow at a healthy pace. I can't stress how enjoyable it is to 'save' these photographs and although I find it sad that they end up without a home, it really is a joy to collect them and keep them safe.

Vintage Photograph Collection - Part Two

If you happened to miss the first part of this series of posts then you can find it here. I will go back to talking about the collection of family photographs that came from a lot I bought on eBay, but today I'm going to talk about the photographs which I display on my shelves.  These photographs are also probably my favourites, mainly because I know their faces the best because I see them everyday. They are like unknown family to me. 

 This was one of my first vintage photographs which I got from a friend at university.  I was doing a lot of research on old photographs for my art so this was a big help at the time.  Since then I've always had it displayed on a desk or bookshelf.  I'm slightly concerned that it's faded quite a bit since I first got it.  The children's faces are beginning to disappear.  I've had this one for so long I feel like I know these people. I think this was bought from a charity shop on the Perth Road in Dundee.  If you're looking for old photographs yourself, always check charity shops.  They don't often have any but sometimes they hold a gem like this one.

This photograph is quite new to my collection and was from an eBay auction.  Again if you want to hunt down some photos of your own, browse eBay often. There are new vintage photo auctions going up every day which is both great for collecting but also incredibly sad in a way.  I love how smartly dressed this family are and I think the kids have such character in their faces.  I like family portraits as you can look at the similarities within the faces and postures.

This is my newest soldier.  I have a few soldier photographs and I think this one is especially sweet as someone has written 'The Boy' on it. I wonder what happened to him and if they got their boy home.

These guys crack me up. They look so smug with their fancy moustaches.  The more I look at it, the more I think it looks like they're away to burst out laughing after trying to look serious for the photo.

Another beautiful family, again with a soldier in the midst.  I wonder how the family coped with him being away, did he return and was this the last photo of them together?

This is quite a badly damaged photo but I love the girl's face. The back has something in a language I don't recognise and it looks like it's been written by a child. Incredibly intriguing and really quite beautiful.

This chap was bought in a small book shop in St Andrews that I've never been able to find again.  My sense of direction isn't too great though...I love his hair and smart little moustache.  I've based many drawings on him.

 I don't really know why but this photograph always reminded me of the actor Jerome Flynn.  I think it might be the chin!  He also reminds me a bit of one of my grandads. I think he just has one of those familiar faces.

Last but not least this photo actually has a couple in it that I'm related to.  I'm not too sure exactly what relation they are but I do know their names are Audrey and Manfred.  I have so many photographs of people who have no names.  All these unknown people who I completely cherish but I know nothing about.  It's therefore nice to have this photo in my collection and at least know their names.

Part three of my collection shall be coming soon...

Vintage Photograph Collection - Part One

I have always loved photo albums and have spent countless hours sitting sifting through our family albums, recounting holiday memories, loved ones and childhood. Photographs are precious because our memories fade and grow weak. It's a fantastic feeling to see happy moments captured to cherish forever, reigniting and sharpening those memories. 

One thing I started to notice as I grew older is that sometimes not all photographs stay within their family. Sometimes these precious items end up in car boot sales or eBay. I'd see them listed in 'lots', hundreds of mixed items grouped together so that they were all portraits, landscapes or from a certain period, separated from their original albums and essentially lost from their original families. I guess there are many reasons why this sort of thing happens.  Some people don't see the importance in old photographs so wouldn't think twice about selling them or chucking them out.  There are those that will die without anyone to hand them on to. Some will simply be lost perhaps when moving house. 

Seeing these sorts of lost photographs made me incredibly sad and I decided that if they didn't have a home, I'd give them one.  That's how my collection started.  I display some on my shelves as if they are my own family and deeply cherish all of them, keeping them safe and in their original albums as best as I can. Today I'll show you the first part of my collection, a small section belonging to a collection I bought off eBay containing an unknown woman's entire family albums. 

Above are some of her loose photographs but for this post I'm going to be mainly showing the photographs contained within one of her albums, 'snapshots'. 

To start with there is a small handwritten note on the inside...

This album seems to be mainly filled with groups of friends from what looks to be the 1930s/40s.  There are small handwritten notes below the photographs but some don't seem to match up with the photo they are with.  I think some photographs from this album have been previously removed or lost so their order might be a bit mixed up.

 Below are a couple of loose photographs that are larger in size. The wedding photograph looks to be from a similar period but the other seems to be a lot earlier. By the way, check out the hairy dog in the bottom of the photo...

Here we have another loose photo that is a double exposure.

I love the group shots of the women with their fantastic hairstyles and amazing style. Some of the individuals can be seen popping up again and again through the photo collection.  I'm not sure if they are sisters, best friends or work colleagues.  At some point I'd like to sit down and try to see if I can work out some kind of connection.

Below are some of the other photographs from this album.  I particularly like the one that is labelled 'dad' on the bottom right. This makes me wonder if this collection is in fact the unknown women's parents photographs and perhaps the woman herself is one the children pictured.

Looking through these photographs I often feel really pleased to have been the one to end up looking after them.  They are full of happy looking times and wonderful friendships which by saving them from being lost, haven't been completely forgotten.

I'll be posting part two soon, continuing on with this particular collection.  There's a lot to get through!