197 : We have all taken photos that are, shall we say, less than perfect. We celebrate these in SS 197 : the pointless photos, the blurred photos, the photos that would have been better left unprinted. But sometimes they tell a powerful story all on their own.
This is going to be an easy challenge to find a photo that would have been better left unprinted...my parents took photos (not a lot) but more times than you can imagine heads were chopped off!!
I am guessing this is Montreal around 1960.
This wasn't taken by either of my parents as they are both in the photo along with my sister, my cousin and an aunt and uncle. I would guess that the photo was taken by my cousin's Dad. Maybe I took it, but not likely that I would have been allowed to touch a camera.
What is my cousin saying? What is my uncle doing on the left, at first I thought he was blowing up balloons but now I wonder if he was lighting a cigarette. It is amazing to see my aunt smoking.
What are those two tiny pictures doing on that big expanse of wall???? We must be visiting one of my aunts as this is not our house.
Good choice. Love the two pictures on the wall! What were they thinking?
ReplyDeleteThe questions you ask are exactly why we need to keep the old and blurry photos.
ReplyDeleteTo my mind, your dad resembles Joe DiMaggio in that shot. Well... a bit. :)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't look quite like balloons; not lighting a cigarette, either. Goodness knows what he's doing...but those itsy pictures on the wall are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that he is lighting a cigarette as the two ladies are also smoking. The little lad seems to be amazed by something...funny.
ReplyDeleteI think we've since develop a better sense of decoration since those days. I have some pictures of my parents where those disproportionally small pictures are set up on a wall, looking quite lost.
ReplyDeleteIt is always fascinating to see familiar people as their younger selves acting in ways we would not suspect...
Why wouldn't you touch a camera? How old were you? I was still a child when I handle my father's camera and had one of my own in my early teens... A cheap one, but one anyway!!
:D~
HUGZ
Actually, it reminds me that that cheap camera is what gave these here:
http://www.ticklebear4u.com/2010/08/sepia-saturday-25.html
:)
Your uncle is trying to play the mini saxophone that came in the Christmas cracker. Unfortunately he doesn't realize that a cocktail sausage is jammed in the end of it rendering the instrument unplayable.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he is lighting a cigarette. Maybe playing some sort of whistle? A very relaxed gathering. Cameras were expensive so I can well believe you were not ordinarily allowed to touch
ReplyDeleteI think you uncle is either playing a kazoo or blowing on one of those roll-up, paper toys that extend when you blow into them. Looking again, I think it's a kazoo or some kind of noisemaker. Look at the little boy with his fingers in his ears.
ReplyDeleteI have a few photos of rooms with small photographs miles apart on an expanse of wall, or one photo on an big wall. It looked very familiar to me to see those two small frames there.
It's just too bad you don't know the details of this photo. It looks like there's a story there.
It looks like the camera took it upon itself to snap a photo when no one was looking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with those who say your uncle was playing a kazoo. I thought your cousin was shocked and scandalized to see his mother smoking but perhaps he was holding his ears.
ReplyDeleteI thought your uncle was cleaning his nose! I'm glad you mentioned the possibility of lighting a cigarette -- that seems likely to me. And those little pictures are hilarious -- they obviously didn't have HGTV to show us how to decorate properly.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice the paper tidy (well that's what we called it) near the couch? My kids wouldn't know what one is and I haven't seen one since I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteThat's another reason to take and keep everyday photos.