Saturday, February 20, 2010

sepia saturday

Unlike my maternal grandmother, my dad's mother was much photographed. We have photos of her as a child, as a young woman, newly married, with my father as a baby...



She was an only child, which - along with being in a different income bracket - may be part of the reason. An only child in a comfortably-off family, so unlike my nan in a very large working class family.



She may have been rather spoiled - she was, as my father puts it, "rather difficult".
As kids, we loved her - she was funny and made us laugh.

I have a hand-coloured version of this last photo, I'll try and find the time to scan it in and add it here.




ADDITIONAL
So, here is the hand-coloured version:



Look here for other Sepia Saturday posts

29 comments:

Martin said...

They are all charming photographs, but the 'Little Bo-Peep' pose gets my vote.

I'm guessing that too many trips to the photographer's studio would have been out of reach for most families of limited means.

Akelamalu said...

Wonderful photos Lettuce.

Kat Mortensen said...

They are indeed priceless, but the sheperdess with the sheep-figure is a classic!

Shammickite said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shammickite said...

Sorry, that deleted comment was me, it all went wrong somehow. Here it is corrected:
Blogger

Shammickite said...

I have no photos of any of my fathers ancestral family.... too poor and living in the wilds of North Devon nowhere near any photographers.... but I have a lovely hand painted portrait of a rather severe lady wearing a black dress.... I was told she belonged to my dad, I wonder who she is?

Betsy Brock said...

Oh yes, the Bo Peep one is so cute...love the little sheep! But that first one is simply breathtaking!

L. D. said...

Income bracket really did determine who had all the photos in the families. Mom's side were few and far between from a box camera. My dad's side went up town and had family pictures taken every time an event took place to be remembered. On large family picture was taken right before two of the guys went to war, as you don't know if they will come back alive. I liked all the backgrounds and the history shown here of the photo studios.

r. said...

Such lavish settings... the boat and the lil' sheep. How wonderful. I especially like the 2nd photo, she seems to be smiling with her eyes.

Lynne said...

Love these, Letty! Just imagine the person who painted all those elaborate backdrops!

The last one is so pastoral. Love it. Look at the big hat! I wonder if those were really her clothes (which I would wear!) or a costume? I'd love to see this one in color. And! All the hand-coloring that was done. Hard to imagine today, isn't it?

Beautiful.

MuseSwings said...

Wonderful photos! The "sand" in the first one looks like great topsoil. I too love the Bo Peep!

The Clever Pup said...

She's beautiful. I love the last picture too. Any idea what the year is on that one?

Tess Kincaid said...

I, too, was photographed a lot as a young girl, since my grandfather had a photography business. Yes, that Bo-Peep photo is just fabulous!

Meri said...

Ah - the Little Bo Peep shot. Funny get up for a photo shoot. Can you imagine that today?

Barry said...

The last photo is just beautiful. She made a lovely Bo-Peep.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

wonderful collection - look forward to the hand colored version of the shepherdess snap.

happy to hear she was popular with her grands - she couldn't have been to 'difficult'!

Barbara said...

I too have been immersing myself in lots of old photos. Don't you just wish you would climb into the picture and have a conversation with these people. We can see only how they appeared from the photos.

Love the Bo Peep look!

Alan Burnett said...

Those are really amazing photographs - classics of their kind. They tell us so much about life then - in the same way as the photographs of our working class relatives do.

PattyF said...

Love the Bo-Peep theme! What is that she's holding in the first photo, though?

Fabulous photos!

Megan said...

I am running into this problem - the farther I go back on my father's father's side, the less photos there are. Not a lot of time for picture taking when you have to get your crops in!

These are absolutely fabulous. The hair ribbons are killing me! Can you imagine wearing those things, even for a portrait?

Anonymous said...

Love the Bo Peep snap but they're all good and you can tell by them she was well loved, hence all the time spent...or was she perhaps modelling?

lettuce said...

isn't the sheep funny?

nope Megan, I really can't!

In the top picture, its a fishing net she's holding.
She was born in 1901, and married in 1926 - and comparing this photo with her wedding photo, my guess is that this was maybe around 1920-ish?

Lynne said...

Beautiful~!
She should be hanging in a wonderful old ornate frame on your wall!
I have so many old photos from my dad's side of the family but unfortunately I don't know who many of them are. Lots of dark swarthy Italians! ;)

tony said...

I Love The Colour Effect On The final Photo.She Was A Bonny Lass.

Tom said...

only children are often spoiled, and much photographed. Great pictures!

ArtSparker said...

The text with the last photo made me think of Marie Antionette playing at being a shepherdess. She looks as if she enjoyed posing.

Stephanie said...

Those are wonderful photos! I like her face - she has a lively look to her.

e said...

She was a very pretty child and young woman. I wish I had some sepias but sadly do not...

Happy week ahead!

Anonymous said...

those old black and white photographs are so precious! love the hand-coloured version x

Harnett-Hargrove said...

These are so very lovely. The fake shore is surprising as the boat and drop just weren't enough! -J