Essay: Pictures through Time
Pictures. We take them for granted, we see them all the time, and some of us are even amateur photographers. They surround us in our everyday lives but none of really stop and think how amazing they really are. Amazing in a way that few of us will ever get a chance to understand.
Why do I say that? Because, how many of you have pictures of family members from over 100 years ago? I'm sure that we have all seen pictures from 50 to 60 years ago when our grandparents started to collect pictures of family; but, have you ever found a really old picture (from 1867) and wondered who they were? What they might have been like? Are they really family???
I guess I am fortunate that I have in my possession such pictures. I remember looking at them when I was younger and wondering just those things. I'd grill my mother incessantly about them, learning the family history. Well, as much as she knew, anyway. Then I'd talk to my great aunt Edith, who, obviously, knew more than my mother.
Still, there are people whom I cannot figure out:
All this picture says is that it is the "family in Oregon". There is no date on the picture, but we guess it is somewhere around 1900. We're pretty sure that the bearded man on the left (who cannot be seen that well) is my great grandfather Stine's brother or uncle. No one is really sure which. Not even my Aunt Edie remembers that much about the family that moved to Oregon.
However, I do know who this lovely couple is:
This is my great grandmother and grandfather Stine on their wedding day. Oh, how the gene pool has thinned since then. They were married until their deaths in the 1960s, so the pic was probably taken just before 1900. Here is a picture taken of them in their final years:
Chances are I never would have met anyone in these pictures. Yet the prints allow me to see what they looked like and talking to others in my family tells me a little about what they were like in life. Poor substitute for the real thing, but I'll take what I can get.
Of course, there are those prints of people who I should have known and never did. We'll take a look at those in my next post.
Why do I say that? Because, how many of you have pictures of family members from over 100 years ago? I'm sure that we have all seen pictures from 50 to 60 years ago when our grandparents started to collect pictures of family; but, have you ever found a really old picture (from 1867) and wondered who they were? What they might have been like? Are they really family???
I guess I am fortunate that I have in my possession such pictures. I remember looking at them when I was younger and wondering just those things. I'd grill my mother incessantly about them, learning the family history. Well, as much as she knew, anyway. Then I'd talk to my great aunt Edith, who, obviously, knew more than my mother.
Still, there are people whom I cannot figure out:
All this picture says is that it is the "family in Oregon". There is no date on the picture, but we guess it is somewhere around 1900. We're pretty sure that the bearded man on the left (who cannot be seen that well) is my great grandfather Stine's brother or uncle. No one is really sure which. Not even my Aunt Edie remembers that much about the family that moved to Oregon.
However, I do know who this lovely couple is:
This is my great grandmother and grandfather Stine on their wedding day. Oh, how the gene pool has thinned since then. They were married until their deaths in the 1960s, so the pic was probably taken just before 1900. Here is a picture taken of them in their final years:
Chances are I never would have met anyone in these pictures. Yet the prints allow me to see what they looked like and talking to others in my family tells me a little about what they were like in life. Poor substitute for the real thing, but I'll take what I can get.
Of course, there are those prints of people who I should have known and never did. We'll take a look at those in my next post.
posted by bagelbuoy at 22:20
2 Comments:
Did your scanner flip that first picture horizontally? You mention a barely visible bearded man on the left, but I see only women on the left and can see a barely visible man on the right.
In any case, these are fascinating pictures. What more do you see in them? At first, I thought that the two figures sitting in the middle of the first photo were women because they were wearing similarly patterned striped shirts. Upon looking closer, I realized they were a man and a woman wearing matching tops (something I didn't know that men and women did at that time). I assume they are husband and wife. Maybe.
Then there are the portraits of your great grandparents. I noted that they aren't smiling in either portrait. Convention of the genre? Directions from the photographer (what happend to "Smile!")? Or does this fit their personality (at least when faced with a camera)? And why is the man always standing behind the woman? Finally, these are both formal portraits, but the young couple is pictured more intimately (their heads are touching) than the older couple. What's that about?
well written, affectionate, and interesting blog.
if you ever get the chance, come visit me
Best,
Simon
my blog is http://nastypredator.blogspot.com (not nearly as menacing as it sounds :-) )
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