Sepia Saturday 79: Dressed for the Beach

Sepia Saturday's photo prompt this week from Alan Burnett depicts two young early 20th Century ladies relaxing on the beach in Atlantic City, but dressed in a manner that will certainly protect them well from the noon day sun. Not everyone goes to beach to swim, and if you live in this Antipodean location, then you'd be advised to go well wrapped at this time of the year (the Met Service advises 3 layers!). As far as swimming's concerned, I think you'd have to pay me.


My own contribution for this theme consists of two tintypes, mounted in flimsy paper sleeves the size of cartes de visite. They are part of a larger collection of 73 loose photographs which I purchased as a single lot on eBay last year. The vendor told me that they had originally been acquired together, and my own research has given me reason to believe that they do indeed belong together. Although these tin types are not inscribed, I've been able to determine, by comparison with others in the collection in which the subjects are identified, and by some additional research, who is depicted and approximately when it was taken.


Measuring roughly 69 x 82 mm, they are an odd size, somewhere between quarter-plate and sixth-plate. Both show a woman seated on the beach with two young children. She is Emily Minns née Carr (1840-1927), wife of Stoke Newington draper Charles Thomas Minns (1838-1900), and the two children with her are most likely her two eldest sons Charles Walter Marston Minns (1874-1951) and Frederick Thomas Minns (1875-1956).


Her third son was born in late 1877, which suggests to me that these two photographs were taken in the summer of 1877, probably by an itinerant beach photographer. The second image, taken from a slightly different angle, includes what may be a large spoked wheel of a bathing machine, similar to that shown in an early 20th Century photograph which I posted two weeks ago as a submission for the 105th Carnival of Genealogy (Swimsuit Edition).


Ladies' and Children's Bathing Suits
Harper's Bazaar, 15 July 1876
I assumed initially that they were dressed for outdoor activities. However, now that I've looked at Stella Blum's Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazaar 1867-1898, I think they could well be wearing bathing suits. Although not identical - that would be so "last year" wouldn't it - the clothes are similar to those depicted in the engraving shown from July 1876, reproduced above. Perhaps someone more familiar with Victorian fashions can confirm - or refute - this. While they belong firmly in the "What were they thinking?" category in the present day, I feel they were at the height of fashion back then.

I'm looking forward to a suitably eclectic selection of swimsuits among the other Sepia Saturday contributions this week.

Donkey riding, donkey riding ...

Donkey rides have been a part of English beach culture for generations. A nostalgic and evocative article by Bel Mooney in the Daily Mail (Oh, I still like to be beside the seaside), written last year after the disastrous gutting by fire of the pier at Weston-super-Mare, includes:

The idea of the seaside holiday is inseparable from the industrialisation of Britain, with the development of the railways, the craze for sea bathing and the 'wakes weeks' when all the Lancashire cotton mills would close to allow the workers a break.

In the second half of the 19th century, tranquil fishing villages like Scarborough and Brighton transformed themselves into holiday resorts and local people realised there was money to be made. In 1875, the local Blackpool newspaper summed up the appeal: 'This is a place where people expect to have a jolly, care-for-nothing scamper.' Penny slot machines in arcades, blow-up rubber rings and beds, metal buckets and spades, windbreaks (doggedly erected in the teeth of the gale), deckchairs for hire, crazy golf courses, Punch and Judy, donkey rides, fairgrounds, tooth-rotting candy floss and sticks of rock - so it grew: all the panoply of the British seaside holiday, somehow recognised even by those who never experienced the chilly reality.

There's simply nothing else in the world quite like it.

Child in chair on a donkey at the beach, Scarborough
Postcard 139 x 87 mm, undated
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
This postcard from my own collection shows a young child having a donkey ride on Scarborough beach, North Yorkshire, on the north-east English coast. The child is seated in a wooden chair-like contraption instead of a saddle. There are a couple of blurred figures to the left, many more in the distance and numerous sailing boats in the water.

Scarborough became a spa town and then Britain's first seaside resort in the late 1600s, with the first bathing machines appearing in the mid-1700s. By the time the Grand Hotel was opened in 1867, the flow of holidaymakers to Scarborough had increased markedly, mainly due to the arrival of the York-Scarborough railway in 1845. By the time this photograph was taken, probably in the early 1900s, its reputation as a holiday spot was well established.


Reverse of Real Photo Postcard
by Will Ricketts, Royal Studio, 2 Eastboro', Scarboro'
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Although it hasn't been through the post, the postcard has a message written on the reverse:

Dear Mr & Mrs Ryley
We are having a fine time at Scarborough & fine weather. Father is enjoying himself very much. Our boy looks very well on this card.
Yours sincerely
J Holmes

Donkey ride on beach, unidentified location
Lantern slide by unidentified photographer, c.1905-1910
Image © Shrewsbury Museums Service Ref. SHYMS: P/2005/0043.
This lantern slide from the Shrewsbury Museums Service (courtesy of the web site Darwin Country) shows a family on a donkey ride at an unidentified location, probably towards the end of the first decade of the 20th Century.


Donkey rides on beach, Rhyl, North Wales
Lantern slide by unidentified photographer, undated
Image © Shrewsbury Museums Service Ref. SHYMS: P/2005/0044.
Another image from the same source shows a number of donkeys on the beack at Rhyl in North Wales. One of these donkeys has a similar child-carrying device.


Donkey rides at Robin Hood's Bay, near Scarborough, 1949
Image © Tom Barlow and courtesy of the Bramham Village web site
Tom Barlow in his memories of childhood holidays spent at Robin Hood Bay, adjacent to the beach at Scarborough, has several photographs of activities on the beach, taken in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These include a couple which feature the then ubiquitous donkey rides.



Donkey rides on the Scarborough beach
Image © and courtesy of Dave Ford's A Personal Tour of Yorkshire
According to Dave Ford "Scarborough is one of the few [English] resorts which still provide donkey rides on the sands."


This article is my submission for the 78th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Pony Pictures, hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.

Picnics and beach gatherings, c.1910-1915

Nigel Aspdin sent me scans of a few amateur snapshots from the album of his great-uncle Charles "Charlie" Sydney Smith (1890-1918) which fit nicely into the series of beach photographs that I've featured over the last couple of months. Nigel is not sure exactly when the photographs were taken, but believes from several of the other photos in the album that it must have been shortly before Charlie left for France and the Great War. This narrows it down to the period approximately c. 1910-1915.


Charlie Smith, Trix Slater and friends
Amateur print mounted in album, 74.5 x 57.5 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The first image shows a group of four friends having a picnic. Wearing pin-striped suits and bow-ties, they're not dressed in the manner we might attend such an informal function, but it was probably appropriate for the time and the class of society to which they belonged. They are sitting or lying on a tartan picnic blanket in the dappled shade of a tree, adjacent to a wooden shed or high fence. They have been drinking tea (perhaps whisky too) and there appears to be a large, half-eaten fruit cake. There are six teacups visible around the blanket, so there was probably another couple present, one of whom took the photograph.

Charlie Smith is on the right, with a post-prandial cigarette between the fingers of his left hand, and seated to his immediate right is his fiancée Beatrice "Trix" Slater (1889-1937). The other couple are unidentified (as are most of the people in the remaining photographs in this selection). He has a cigarette dangling from his lips; she is holding one in her left hand, either on behalf of the photographer or perhaps guiltily as if she should not be smoking. They were obviously friends of Charlie and Trix, but there are unfortunately no annotations in the album to identify either the locations or the participants.


Roadside gathering, Trix Slater and friends
Amateur print mounted in album, 93.5 x 52.5 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
This photo, located on the same page as and immediately below the previous one in the album, shows Trix Slater (at far left) with two couples and a dog, but they are different people from those seen at the picnic. They are lying down in the grass, on what appears to be a road verge, facing the photographer. I assume that Charlie was taking the photograph, and it seems likely that he took most of the photographs in the album. Although the friends are not identified - and Nigel is on holiday at the moment, so he can't confirm it immediately - I believe that the young man on the right hand side is Nigel's grandfather Bertie Dyche Aspdin (1871-1943) and next to him is Trix's sister Evelyn Amelia Slater (1887-1967). Bertie and Evelyn were married in mid-1914, so whether they were husband and wife at this time depends on when the photograph was taken.


Detail of roadside gathering, probably Evelyn Amelia Aspdin née Slater
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Conversely, one might interpret the ring that Evelyn is wearing, and displaying prominently, on her left hand as indicating they were already married, although it could well be an engagement ring rather than a wedding band.


Group at the seaside, leaning on balustrade
Amateur print mounted in album, 102.5 x 78 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The next two shots show groups of men, women and boys at the seaside, preparing to go for a swim. Beatrice is sitting in the middle of the front row. They are dressed in raincoats, what look like bath gowns and a wide variety of headgear, which seem rather bizarre by today's standards, but was presumably dictated by the rules of decorum prevalent at the time, in order to preserve their modesty before they actually entered the water.


Large group of fourteen at the beach
Amateur print mounted in album, 98 x 70 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
In the second of these two photos a different, much larger jovial group, including two young lads, is standing on the ripple-marked beach itself. Check out the placement of hands! I won't name the reader who sent me the comment, "My father told me never to miss an opportunity."


Preparing to enter the water
Amateur print mounted in album, 82.5 x 71.0 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Then a sequence of three photos show two of the young ladies from the large group (standing at 4th from left and at far right, respectively) disrobing and entering the water.


"No excuses, we can't put it off any longer"
Amateur print mounted in album, 74.0 x 75.5 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
After removal of their outer wrappings the two women head to join three of the men who are at the water's edge already.


"Come on in, although I can't promise the water's warm"
Amateur print mounted in album, 57.0 x 51.5 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
They're putting on brave faces, but I doubt the water's very warm.


Testing the water
Amateur print mounted in album, 97.0 x 72.5 mm
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The last in the series is possibly on a completely separate outing to a stony, rather than sandy, beach. Three fully dressed women have taken their shoes off - although not their magnificent hats - and are testing out the water, while a man with a camera stands beyond them, ankle-deep in the water, preparing to take a shot with his camera.


Detail of previous photograph
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Unfortunately the photo is not quite detailed enough for me to be able to identify the type of camera, although it looks to be some kind of box-type, perhaps similar to one of the Kodak Brownie range.

Summer holidays at Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, circa 1920

Some years ago, my father and I did some research on, and corresponded with each other about, three snapshots which had come from my grandfather Leslie Payne's collection. I have previously discussed our tentative conclusions about the locations of these photographs in a series of articles written about my grandfather's early years in Canada, both prior to and after the Great War, here and here. The publishing of Jasia's very readable 74th COG Swimsuit Edition on Creative Gene and several other recent posts with beach holiday themes in the blogging community has prompted me to look at these again, as I have done many times over the years. I was particularly keen to examine them in light of my discovery a couple of years ago, in my paternal aunt's photo collection, of a number of related pictures. I can't really explain my need to discover exactly where and when these photographs were taken, and who my grandfather's friends were, but to many of readers I'm sure I don't really need to find substantive reasons or make any excuses! It's part of the genealogical journey of discovery.


"Boulder Photo"
A group of young men and women seated on a large boulder at a rocky beach, near a large body of open water, Leslie Payne seated 2nd from left, c. 1919-1921
Print © and collection of C.B. Payne
In 2000, I wrote the following:

I have persuaded myself that these - unfortunately unannotated - photographs must have been taken during the period that Leslie Payne lived in Winnipeg between 1919 and 1921. Is it possible that they were taken during an excursion to the shores of either Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba. The large boulder in [this] photo appears, to both my father and I (amateur and professional geologists, respectively), to be a glacial erratic. For this reason, it doesn't seem likely that the photo could have been taken in England.

"Beach Photo"
Two couples on a sandy beach, Leslie Payne at left, c. 1919-1921
Print © and collection of C.B. Payne


"Rustic Bench Photo"
A group seated on a wooden bench at a tented camp, Leslie Payne at right, c. 1919-1921
Print © and collection of C.B. Payne

There is a third photograph showing two of these friends, as well as my grandfather and another unindentified man (at left). They are seated on a rustic looking bench fashioned from saplings. Leslie is at the right, leaning forwards slightly; next are the couple who appeared in both the Boulder and Beach photos. The bench is located against the wall of what appears to be a large canvas tent, situated in a wood. Was it some sort of camp? Where were these three photos taken, and who are the other people (three male and three female) with Leslie Payne. Was the man common to all three a friend from the WW1 Machine Gun Corps, perhaps, and the lady next to him, who also appears in all three, his wife or girlfriend?

"Mandolin Photo"
A large group seated on a wooden bench at a tented camp, Leslie Payne at right in middle row, c. 1919-1921
Print © and collection of Brett Payne Courtesy of Margaret Pugh
In 2003, as a result of some correspondence with the niece of one of my grandfather's old Machine Gun Corps buddies in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, she sent me a photograph from her late uncle Pete McLaggan's photo album. It appeared to have been taken in the same tented camp and at the same time as the "Rustic Bench Photo." This time one of the subjects was holding a mandolin - presumably they were having a sing-along - and smoke from a wood fire can be seen drifting across the background. After doing a little more research on the history of the beaches on Lake Winnipeg I wrote:

Between 1915 and 1919, in an area at the southern end of Lake Winnipeg already popular with campers, cottages started to appear around an area known as Victoria Beach. This was aided by the arrival of the rail line - and a regular rail service - in 1916, and the formation of a municipality in August 1919, which made Victoria Beach a very convenient and popular weekend destination for Winnipeg residents. It seems probable that all four of the above photographs were taken on or close to the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Contemporary and historical images of Grand Beach and Victoria Beach found on the web suggest either area as a possible location for both the camp and beach photos. However, without first-hand knowledge of the area, it is difficult for me to be sure, and it could just as easily be one of the several other beaches nearby, such as Gimli, Hillside or Patricia Beaches.

The fact that two individuals - apart from Leslie Payne - are common to all four photos supports the idea that they were taken at roughly the same period as each other. Comparison with pre-war photographs of Leslie illustrates that these are definitely post-war.

This narrowed down the potential date to between February 1919, after his demobilisation from the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Winnipeg, and May 1921, when he returned to Derbyshire, England. I also identified a couple in the "Mandolin Photo" from other annotated photos in my Dad's collection as Laura and Stewart Morris, friends of Leslie from his time in Winnipeg. Stewart Morris appears to have been a fellow employee at Eaton's Department Store.


Victoria Beach, Manitoba, on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, 20 October 2007.
Digital image © Ken Gillespie and courtesy of the Canadian Geographic PhotoClub
However, there were still several other unidientified people, and I couldn't really be sure about the location. As shown by historical and more recent photographs of the area, including the stunning shot of a sunset at Victoria Beach by talented Winnipeg photographer Ken Gillespie shown above, there were and still are several sites which might have had a mixture of such rocky and sandy beaches.


In my aunt's collection, which she kindly allowed me and my brother to scan in October 2007, I made the exciting discovery of an additional 21 snapshots in the same group as the four described previously. I've uploaded images of these, together with others relating to Leslie Payne's years spent in Canada between 1912 and 1921, to my Picasa Web Albums. This enabled me to sort them out into groups arranged roughly by date and setting.


Leslie Payne (back row, left), Stewart Morris (back row, centre) and four others
Probably at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
I was able to separate them into two groups, based on photographic printers batch numbers stamped on the reverse of the prints. The bulk of them have a "C 21" stamp, while three have a "B 21" stamp. These latter three are obviously contemporaneous with the others, and it seems likely that they were taken by a different photographer in the group. Every photograph includes my grandfather. Although most have inscriptions, these have been made by my aunt, and only relate to my grandfather - none of the other subjects are identified. Two photographs, including the one shown above, are similar to the "Boulder Photo."


Leslie Payne (seated at right), Laura Morris (standing at right) and four others
Probably at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
There were also two photos (one of which is included above) showing the same group of six that was featured in the first "Boulder Photo," but standing or sitting on a smaller boulder partially submerged in the water.


Leslie Payne (standing at right) and three others
Probably at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
Next there are two photos with similar, although not quite identical, attitude and subjects to the "Beach Photo" described earlier.


Leslie Payne (front row, second from left) and eight others
Probably at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
A further seven shots are in a similar vein, of various groups of between three and eleven people lying, seated and standing on a sandy beach, but apparently taken looking in the opposite direction, away from the water. While all of them appear posed, some have a more conventional portrait structure than others. Some are perhaps a little later in the day, as several of the subjects have donned more layers of clothing. Several are of somewhat poorer quality, either out of focus, poorly framed, or with subjects turned away from the camera. The example above is one of the better ones, with only one chap ignoring the "say cheese" request. In the background can be seen some partly vegetated low hills, possibly sand dunes, telegraph poles, other groups of beachgoers (one of them looks as though he might be eating an ice cream cone), including a child, and a bandstand, gazebo or small pavilion.


Leslie Payne (second from right) and eight others
Probably at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
This more relaxed pose was probably shot only a few minutes after the previous one.


Leslie Payne (right) and two others, with Dancing Pavilion in background
Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
The next two photos are similar, showing Leslie Payne and two others lying on the beach, but have a different background view, possibly to the right of the others, which includes a very large building with a rounded roof.


Detail of Dancing Pavilion, Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Image © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
It is this building, shown enlarged in the image above, which has provided, at least for me, incontrovertible proof that at least some of these photographs were taken at Grand Beach.


Dancing Pavilion, Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, undated
Image © and courtesy of Grand Beach Visitors Guide
The Grand Beach and East Beach Visitors Area web site has an article on the history of the area, apparently based on a book Grand Beach - The Grand Old Days by Susan Lemoine and Tim Barnfather (publ. 1978, Manitoba Department of Tourism, Manitoba). Several photographs are displayed, presumably taken from the book, two of which are included here.


Interior of Dancing Pavilion, Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, undated
Image © and courtesy of Grand Beach Visitors Guide

The grandest of all the buildings at Grand Beach was the Dance Pavilion. Rumour has it that this was the largest Dance Hall of its time in the Commonwealth. Until its destruction by fire in 1950, this was the major source of entertainment and the central meeting spot of the resort community. Entire families and all age groups would enjoy the music of the band hired by the railway for the entire season. Admission was originally free, but in the Twenties "Jitney" (a nickel a dance) dancing began.

Boardwalk & Dancing Pavilion, Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg
Image © Western Canada Pictorial Index and courtesy of Manitoba Conservation

A boardwalk was built over the years that extended from the station to the lagoon along the beach front. Hot and crowded during the day, lit up at night, the boardwalk provided sure footing for shoe-clad feet and food for hungry beach-goers. The first hot dog and soft drink stand was built in 1923. Under the boardwalk the shade was welcome. Treasure hunters could be rewarded with some loose change. Itinerant travellers found the boardwalk an ideal shelter. They say Sandy is the name given to a girl-child conceived under the boardwalk. Whatever the recreational preference, the boardwalk offered a variety of diversions.

The carousel was an awesome and magical building. Filled with hand-crafted animals: studs, mares and ponies, whirling in an endless circle to the tinkling music, their manes flying, teeth bared, hooves raised, forever frozen in time.

Leslie Payne (back) and friends, probably Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
There are two photographs showing a group of six beachgoers posing in a line on a wooden pier. In the left-hand image Laura and Stewart Morris are at the head of the line, while my Grandpa is at the back, but I have not yet been able to identify the other three. The electric lamp hanging from a pole at the end of the pier suggests that it might be part of the boardwalk system described above. There is also part of a rowing boat visible in the background.

I've included the second, very similar shot, because it appears that the photographer of the first picture has gone into the line (fourth from the front), and Stewart Morris has taken the second. I think we can assume that one of these two characters is the primary photographer in all the shots with "C 21" batch stamp. Since Stewart Morris only appears in two shots in the entire collection, and the other man appears in a great many, I think it very likely that it was Stewart who owned the camera and took the photos during this holiday period. The three from the "B 21" batch may have been taken with a different camera by another member of the group, although the possibility exists that one of the batches actually consists of reprints from the same original negatives as the other batch.


Leslie Payne (at right) and friends, at a tented camp
probably Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
The final group of five photographs is from the tented camp in the woods, previously illustrated in the "Rustic Bench" and "Mandolin" photos above. Two of them include a much older couple, and I have speculated that they are possibly parents of one of the young people and owners of the property.


Leslie Payne (at right) and friends, at a tented camp
probably Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
This photograph is another view of the wooden bench and canvas tent, but from a slightly different angle. Hanging from the awning of the tent are two flags, a Union Jack on the left and what appears to be a version of the Canadian Red Ensign on the right.


Detail of Canadian Red Ensign flag
Paper Print © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
Nigel Aspdin has discussed the history of this design at some length on his vexicological blog, What's that flag.


The "Nine Provinces" Canadian Red Ensign of 1907, unofficial flag of Canada from 1907 to 1921
Image courtesy of 'Orange Tuesday' and Wikipedia
It appears to me to be a slightly modified or unofficial version of the "Nine Province" Canadian Red Ensign of 1907 after Alberta and Saskatchewan had been added, as illustrated in this Wikipedia article. Sharp spotted readers will notice, however, that the lower left and lower centre sectors have been switched around. Alistair B. Fraser in his The Flags of Canada - The Country: Chapter IV, describes the genesis of the Canadian Red Ensigns and the design of the 1907 Nine Province badge. He also discusses the rise in use of the Union Flag (or Union Jack) after the turn of the century, and the common simulataneous use of the two flags before, during and after the war.

It appears to me that Leslie Payne spent a few days, or perhaps several weekends, during the summer of either 1919 or 1920, with a group of friends camping at Grand Beach, an easy train trip from Winnipeg, during which time they spent a good deal of time at the nearby beach. There are at least a dozen individuals in these photographs, some of whom were probably in the same camp, while others may have been staying nearby. I have mentioned Stewart and Laura Morris, who I identified from annotated photographs of the same era. However, I don't know who any of the others were.

My grandfather received a book in October 1921, after he had returned to England, from someone who signed themself as "P" living at 43 Fawcett Avenue, Winnipeg, with the following inscription, "fulfilling a promise made two years earlier." My aunt believes this was a girlfriend named Peggy, but has no further information about her. Perhaps Peggy was one of those in the photographs. I'm hoping that some day, someone from the Winnipeg area will recognise a family member in the images included above, but I will admit that it's a long shot.


Today's article is my entry for the 5th Edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival hosted by looking4ancestors.

Catching up

I'm afraid that a preoccupation with studies and house guests has left me with little time to spend on Photo-Sleuth recently. Although I have tried hard to keep up with reading my favourite, and ever-growing, list of family history and photo-related blogs, I've been disappointed to miss out on participating in a couple of exellent Geneabloggers carnivals, such as Evelyn Yvonne Theriault's A Festival of Postcards (2nd Edition): Main Street.

Three weeks ago I attended a very interesting, informative and thought provoking talk entitled Snapshots - The Vernacular in New Zealand Photography in the Art Lounge of the Auckland Art Gallery given by Ron Brownson, Senior Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Art. Several of the photographs which he used in the accompanying slideshow Ron has also featured in a series of Snapshots on the Auckland Art Gallery staff blog Outpost. A variety of aspects of indigenous amateur photography have been discussed in both blog articles and the talk.


Group of friends posed sitting on a truck at the beach, c. 1925
Image © and courtesy of Ron Brownson
Outpost (Auckland Art Gallery Staff blog) - Snapshots 10
Apart from using the photographs as a window onto the way of life in the early to mid-20th Century, Ron analyses the relationship between the photographer and his or her subjects. I am particularly intrigued how he uses this to develop an idea of who the photographer might have been. For example, he comes to the conclusion that the person taking the shot featured above was a woman. I don't know whether I agree with him or not, but it certainly got me thinking more about this photographer-subject relationship.

A large proportion of the snapshots in Ron's collection feature people engaging in recreational activities, often by the beach. I have quite a few images in my own family collection in a similar vein, and hope to feature some of these on Photo-Sleuth in the next few weeks.

On a quite different note I would like to acknowledge and thank George Geder and Judith Richards Schubert for their recognition of my efforts on Photo-Sleuth in the form of Puckerbrush Awards on their respective blogs here and here.

George is a keen photo restoration artist and family historian, using his work with precious family photographs and the telling of stories to make genealogy research more interesting. On his blog George Geder employs a variety of formats to tell these stories and to share his three decades of valuable genealogical knowledge and experience. George provides some details of his background and sources of inspiration in a guest article on footnoteMaven's popular Shades of the Departed blog, in which he talks about the importance of preserving and restoring photographs. He also writes a regular column for Shades, entitled The Healing Brush, in which he reveals some of his restoration secrets. Have a look at the circa 1958 photograph of a young boy with his mother and also "a client's crumbling grandmother" on Gifts of the Ancestors, Part I and Part II - I bet those took a few hours to restore!

Judith's blog Genealogy Traces is another of my regular reads. She is a regular and enthusiastic participant in the various Geneablogger carnivals and, most important to me, uses a wonderful variety of images to illustrate her genealogy research. For example, an unused 1960s colour postcard of the Canal Grande in Venice bought and saved by her mother-in-law was Judith's contribution for the aforementioned Festival of Postcards - Main Street. Scrapbooking is another of Judith's talents, and many of her old family photos have been artfully presented as digital scrapbook pages. I particularly enjoyed her entry for the 74th Carnival of Genealogy: Swimsuit Edition, a snapshot of her pregnant mother perched precariously in a wooden craft of rather rudimentary construction - whether Judith's dad is steadying the boat or perhaps threatening to tip it over, I'm not quite sure.

Holidays at the beach

Today is my Aunt Bunnie's birthday. In just over two weeks it will be three years since her brother Bud, my Dad, died and left a gap in our lives that I can't begin to describe. A year ago last month Bunnie lost her husband and companion of over fifty years, our much loved Uncle Alf. Although half a world away Bunnie is very much in our thoughts.


Bud Payne, Southwick, 1932
Print 56 x 79 mm
Image © and collection of C.B. Payne
Todays photographs celebrate just one aspect of the childhood that Bud and Bunnie shared, holiday visits to the seaside in the years before the outbreak of war put paid to that sort of activity.


Bud and Bunnie Payne, Bridlington, 1933
Print 54 x 77 mm
Image © and collection of C.B. Payne


Bud and Bunnie Payne, probably 1933 or 1934
Print 80 x 115 mm
Image © and collection of C.B. Payne


Bud and Bunnie with their mother Ethel Payne
Location unknown & undated but probably Summer 1935
Print 80 x 116 mm
Image © and collection of C.B. Payne