While you wait

[baleanoptera]

In 1928 there was a huge fair in this city, and part of the attractions of this fair was a photograph stand. It was called Pictures while you wait, and was literary that. In its time it was cutting edge technology, and people flocked to have their photos taken – and took the images home with them.

Now the years pass, and the fair and its photos were more or less forgotten – until someone uncovered boxes upon boxes of the photo negatives. Suddenly, by developing the negatives, you could see all the different faces of the people visiting the fair. Young and old, rich and poor. There was one problem though, and that was that none of the negatives was marked or named. So the people in the photos were by and large unknown.





They started a campaign in the local newspaper. "Go to this net page and go through the photos. Do you know any of the people there?" Many did, and so some of the people started to be named. Like this family called Larsen. (and is it just me or does it look like mom is calling the shots in this family? Something about the look in her eyes.)



But the majority of the photos are still without a name. This leaves us guessing. To look at things like clothes and shoes. Are they rich, are they poor etc. The odd thing, I find, is that when you start to guess the images come a bit alive.



You, or at least I, start to make things up. I look at the way the people stand, the way they look at each other. I look for any possible family resemblances. I some way all this guesswork make these pictures more personal to me, more mine. (And then of course we can argue about how ethical that is).


Though I don't know for sure I think this is a father and daughter. Also I love his striped socks

There is also another factor I find interesting. They didn’t have that much money back in 1928 (in fact they didn’t have that much money in this part of the world until the late 1970’s.But I digress.), and so they had only one background to take the photo against. In addition they had only two props. One was a bench and one was a chair, and as a result all the photos are composed over the same elements.



Yes, despite their identical point of origin it is fascinating to see how different the photos are. It is a difference that comes solely by how the people interact with the props, and most importantly with each other.



Here is one young girl.



And here is another. It’s quite a difference yes?



This is possibly my favourite picture of them all. It's just something about their body language and their smiles. I also like how they are not overtly posing for the camera (compare with the young girl above). Instead they are just standing there, and appear to be having a grand time. We don't know their names, but from their clothes I would say they were farmers and rather poor farmers at that. They both look like they are wearing their Sunday best, and it is not very posh is it. To contrast look at the rich farmers below who are wearing folk costumes.



It is a different world in a way. Incidentally this is the folk costume that belongs to the Hardanger region.



Then there is a rather amusing assortment of trios. There are these guys with bears. (why bears? I want to know!)



This trio, who are wearing the clothes of carpenter apprentices.



There is a trio of women who are obviously rich. Look at all that fur and shimmering fabric.



Then a photo of what I suspect is a family, and which makes me glad knee-socks went out of fashion. (though obviously kilts are an exception...)



And a trio of nurse - all without a name.



The search for the names and identities continues, and while I hope they will find out who most of these people are - there is a part of me that also hopes that some of them will remain a mystery.

Comments

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

OMG I LOVE old photographs! This project is awesome! I love how you can also tell a lot about people's class/wealth/entertainment just by the sheer fact of who clearly hasn't been photographed before, and who's much more comfortable/familiar with the process... those who goof off versus those who are kind of deer-in-the-headlights...

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

YAY! See, I knew you were a person of excellent taste. ;)

those who goof off versus those who are kind of deer-in-the-headlights...

Yes, exactly. And while I'm weary of reading too much into poses and clothes, I think you can tell a fair amount just by looking at these images. The class distinction I find is very clear, which I'm personally fascinated by. Norway has largely been built on this myth that we have almost no class distinctions, that at most we are all lower middle class/working class - and that we have somehow been egalitarian since the Viking Ages (and I would personally like to hit the guy that came up with the idea of Vikings as terribly egalitarian, because hello, even the Viking myths dealt with class). These images, and others like them, clearly show that this was not the case.

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Awwww, who's a widdle angry viking? :D

But: yes. These pictures are fascinating.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

*brandishes longsword of ye olde Viking aggression* But seriously, yes - a wee bit pissed. ;) Though I'll put that soap box back in storage for now. Hee.

I do love how, in the photo of the three women with rich clothes, the young one of the left looks at the camera with this amused look. Especially since the two older women look pretty pissed of. I keep wondering what is going on.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

What a collection of great pictures! I wonder why people on the old photos look as if they know something we don't. :D

[dianora77.livejournal.com]

I believe it's all to do with the chemical compounds used in developing photography in the early days, they just made the finished product seem so otherworldly and mysterious.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

isn't it just wonderful?

I wonder why people on the old photos look as if they know something we don't.

Hee. I think this is especially true of the photo with the trio of rich women. The youngest one, on the left, has this mischievous look that makes me really curious.

It also makes you wonder how posterity will look at our photos many years from now.

[dianora77.livejournal.com]

I'm head over heels obsessed with old photographs, so I can only say a huge thank you for this fascinating display.

There are these guys with bears. (why bears? I want to know!)

Perhaps they're fans of Sebastian Flyte? ;)

[dianora77.livejournal.com]

Although they couldn't be since Brideshead wasn't published till 1940's. Hehe... :P

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Sad, but true. But I was a great idea! Aloysius! I loved that. :)
I was at a time completely fascinated by the series with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, and so now I'm a bit worried about the new version.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Old photos are wonderful. For some reason I find black/white to be especially appealing, and I don't know. Maybe it's because every photo and film around us are usually in colour, and so black/white appears a bit exotic? Or maybe it is the clean aesthetic of it all.

I'm also very fascinated by how they pose in these old photos, and how the technical equipment limited the composition.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Those are fabulous! I loved looking at them and thinking, as you did, about what kinds of people they were, though obviously I don't have the same knowledge of the historical context you do. I love the one big family all crowded in, with one woman on her husband's lap, and the three men and their three bears, and also the three apprentice carpenters. I would love it if this became a traveling exhibit or someone put together a book.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

I love the one big family all crowded in, with one woman on her husband's lap,

yes, that is a great photo. Even if it is the picture that is the worst for wear I could bear not to include it. It just has this great atmosphere. I also love the looks exchanged between the woman on the lap and her husband. There is so much going on there, and some sort of secret amusement lost to all us now.

Actually I think they are considering making a book, but I'm not sure if they will make it in English. I'll ask the lady in charge of the photo-archive and let you know if you'd like?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, please. If it's not horrendously expensive, I'd buy it just for the pictures, even if the text had to remain a complete mystery.

And I, too, noticed "the look." Not only that, I just realized there are two women sitting on their husbands' laps. I was so focused on the couple on the left that I missed the one on the right. ::facepalm::

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Hello! Picking up old threads here, but there is a book - and it costs around 200 Norwegian Kroner, which is about £20. No idea how much that is in dollars as yet, but I can look into it if you'd like.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I think that would be around $40, which isn't as horrendous as I thought it might be. So yes, I'd be very appreciative if you'd check into whether they would ship to the US and how I would pay and things. Thanks so much.

[mnemo-syne.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome! How interesting...I love looking at old photographs and trying to imagine what their life was like. I think I like the trio of carpenter guys the best. The one on the left looks like a troublemaker. :P Thanks for sharing them.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think you are right about the carpenters being troublemakers, and though the one on the left probably starts it I can see the other two cheer him on. ;)

And there is something special about old photographs. I keep trying to put my finger on it - if it is the black/white, the formal compositions or what. So far I haven't been able to come up with a good answer, I just know that there is something about old images like these that appeal to my imagination in a way modern pictures don't. Maybe it is just because these older images are more distant time wise, than current photos.

Glad you liked the post, and I must say I love your icon. That cropping is great.

[wildtiger7.livejournal.com]

These are really neat! It's so interesting to see how people interact not only with one another but also with how they view the camera/how they think the camera sees them.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

So glad to hear you liked it, and you echo my thoughts exactly in regards to the interaction. :) I think lage_nom_ai made a really good point above, about how you could sort of see who was used to the camera and who was not. (And I must also admit that I find the thought of someone not being used to having their photo taken a bit strange. I guess that shows how much it is part of our modern culture)

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

Wow I loved this post so much. The people are fascinating-looking as are those folk costumes. My goodness! :) The hair accessories! :)

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And the hair accessories are really something. To be honest I'm a bit thankful that white, linen scarves went out of fashion. Hee. But so glad to hear you liked them. :)

[schionatulander.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic. And I have to agree with you that not knowing who these people are makes the photos even more thrilling. That leaves more potential for the imagination. It's the same when you find an old photo album with black and white photographs of the late 19th or early 20th century. It's partly unnerving and sad seeing faces of people, persons, who were known and loved some time in the past and now mean absolutely nothing to the beholder. And partly that's the exact point why these photos are so fascinating because it triggers imagination so that I cannot stop to imagine their backgrounds, even their stories like photos of a cast to a novel not yet written.
Thanks for sharing!

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

It's partly unnerving and sad seeing faces of people, persons, who were known and loved some time in the past and now mean absolutely nothing to the beholder.

Oh absolutely. In some aspects these images are a memento mori, not just over the people depicted but also over a culture where photos weren't that common. I have a hard time imagining a "photo while you wait" attraction being as popular today, or that so many people would be so obviously unused to posing for a camera.

[mr-kit.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I can't believe how amazing the clothes were that people wore. The 4th photo down in particular. I like the relaxed intimacy there; definitely post-Victorian :-)

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Hee. I have a special fondness for the hats and scarves, and I'm a bit sad that hats especially has more or less gone out of fashion. And yes, there is definitely a bit of that relaxed 1920's atmosphere going on there. In some ways these images are right in the centre of the change between the stiff formality of former images, and the looser, more private atmosphere of the snap-shot photo. It's fascinating really.

[richlayers.livejournal.com]

I love your commentary as much as I love looking at the pictures.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Thank you - and what a wonderful thing to say. :) So glad to hear you enjoyed the post. I enjoyed sharing these amazing images very much as well.

[richlayers.livejournal.com]

See, I think if it was just the images, after a while they would start to blur together in my mind, and then I would just stop looking and noticing. But when someone has already taken the time to note a few interesting things about them, they come back to life and are individually interesting again. So, thanks for taking the time. :)

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! These are truly amazing.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked them. I find them truly fascinating, and so it has been great fun to share.