WOW! BOY IN A DRESS - Part II by Pat Street

In an earlier post, I suggested ways to determine the gender of children in nineteenth-century photos by examining the hair style.  Another useful indicator of gender is clothing.* Almost all of the examples shown below are of boys, because it's very common for boys to be misidentified as girls, and quite rare for girls to be misidentified as boys.

1.  TROUSERS  Throughout the nineteenth century, no matter how fancy the outfit or how long the hair, if a child is wearing trousers of any kind, it's a boy. Girls were never seen in pants or trousers, whether long pants, below-knee pants, knee pants, or above-knee pants. The girliest-looking child, if wearing pants,  is a boy.

2.  BOW AT NECK  If the child has a bow at the neck of any size, it's likely to be a boy.

3.  COLLAR  If the child has a big fancy ruffled cloth collar, usually with cuffs and a bow at the neck as well, it's almost certain to be a boy. 

Girls wore fancy collars too, but girls' collars are generally in the "Bertha" style (large round lace or crocheted collars).  Boys occasionally wore this style of collar too, but it was mostly a girls' style. These are girls.

4.  SAILOR SUIT  In mid-century, when European royalty began dressing the royal children in little military uniforms of the realm, sailor suits (or dresses with rows of braid or other sailor styling) became very popular for both boys and girls. Girls wore the middy top with a skirt, and so did many little boys.  (Boy, boy; boy, girl)

5.  LORD FAUNTLEROY SUIT  In the mid-1880s, mothers began to dress their boys in the style of Little Lord Fauntleroy, a character in a children’s book. A Fauntleroy suit consisted of a jacket and skirt (or short pants) made of a luxurious fabric like velvet, worn with a full white blouse with enormous, elaborate, ruffled or lacy collar and cuffs. Girls did not wear this style.

6.  DRESS  All babies wore similar dresses, and it's really hard to determine gender if the child doesn't have enough hair to be styled. Sometimes it's best to go with body language. I think this child is a boy, but maybe it's a girl.

Dresses for children up to age five or so were pretty much unisex. This is a little boy from the 1860s named Eugene. Hair style is a better indicator for young children than dress style.

These are all boys.

And these are all boys, too. Some boys as old as ten or eleven wore dresses.

7.  SUIT WITH JACKET  If the child is wearing a suit, i.e., matching jacket and skirt or pants, it's probably going to be a boy. A girl would generally wear a dress rather than a suit.

8.  JEWELRY  The presence of jewelry won't usually help you decide whether a child is male or female. These children are all boys. The first boy is in playclothes, and his beads may be wooden beads he has strung on a shoelace, but the other boys are dressed in their best clothes. The boy on the right is wearing stud earrings, and the twin boys below are wearing small hoop earrings. (It was thought that pierced-ear earrings would improve a child's eyesight. This old wives' tale is also why pirates wore gold hoops in their ears.) 

If you have a photograph for which you still can't decide gender after considering hair style and clothing, you may need to factor in the props, if any, and the pose.  I'll address those elements next time.

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* I've developed these guidelines (and I've seen exceptions to almost all of them) from studying thousands of early photographs of children. If you think I'm off base, please let me know!  

To see Wow! Boy in a Dress, Part I, click here. 
Click here for more on Pat Street and other guest bloggers.

"PWI": PHOTOGRAPHING WHILE INTOXICATED by David Rheingold

While drinking and driving don't mix, alcohol and cameras are a heady cocktail. Intoxicated people, especially normally reserved people, love the stages parties provide. People act like C-list celebrities desperate for paparazzi flash glare. Amateur photographers actually have quite an easy job as blurry or off center photographs just lend to the feeling of a party!

I love "On the Dock" as this is during Prohibition. A young woman tilts up a bottle while there's a subtle hike of her dress with a hand holding a cigarette. There's a strong sense that she's intoxicated, but there's also the hint of much more to come. Along these lines, there's also "Beer Can."

 

At some parties, not only do the social veneers come off. The clothes can come off, too. ("Umbrella" and "Belly Pinch".)

As the party goes on, there's a sense of delirium, and amateur photographers are quite adept at these shots. ("Flowers" and "Four Drunks".)

The key is to have a photographer who can outlast most party victims so that the final gasps of the party can be documented!

For more on David Rhiengold, click here. 

TRICK OR TREAT! A FAVORITE HALLOWEEN PHOTO

In this post 9/11 world of vampire books, zombies, the TV show True Blood, and the goth fashion scene it is not surprising that Halloween is probably America’s favorite holiday. Thus we respond to photos of old costumes and all of the rites and rituals associated with the scariest night of the year. It takes us back to our own childhood and the crazy getups we wore with such pride.  This blog entry brings together some of the participants’ favorite Halloween photos which are sure to scare you, make you laugh, and perhaps give you a slight shudder.  But no tricks here, just photo treats for the viewing.   Enjoy!

This Halloween image grabbed me the moment I saw it. And, no, it's not about the brown shoes clashing with the black outfit.  A fretful monologue begins in my mind as I find myself posing for the shot. I’m trapped in this stinking costume for the next two hours.  The pre-formed mask reeks of glue and paint.  I feel it’s canvas scratchiness grating my nose and I’m praying that I don’t have to go to the bathroom anytime soon.  My breath is beginning to condense on the inside of the mask because there is no mouth hole.  What fun can I have because even my friends won’t be able to recognize me?  Who’s going to give me candy?  No one.  I’m too terrifying.  Sheer panic grips me as I realize that in my blackness, I’m going to be the perfect target for older kids to hit me with eggs and flour-filled socks.  Mommy, I’m scared!  Please don’t send me out there!!!

Mark Rotenberg
For more on Mark Rotenberg, click here. 
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If you've ever put on a dyed plastic body suit over your clothing you know it's not the most comfortable way to go for a walk. That's why it's impossible to forget the many times I dressed in one of those awful plastic costumes for Halloween. One year, my mother bought me a Luke Skywalker suit and a plastic mask so I could go trick or treating. I recall the sweat forming around my cheeks and under my nose. Other kids had better costumes made of actual fabric but I was just happy to collect a bucket worth of free candy. I love Halloween more than any other holiday and at times I wish I could still go trick or treating. On Halloween one could be wicked, heroic, an alien, a princess or whatever your imagination could conjure up. When I look at this photo I am immediately taken back to that happy time when I could hardly breath under my plastic Luke Skywalker mask.

Albert Tanquero
For more on Albert Tanquero, click here. 
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While Halloween is all about the costume, often the scariest element is the jack o’lantern which sits on a porch or glows through the darkened window of a house.  I love the simplicity of this scene and how the light of the candle in the pumpkin softly illuminates the girl’s face.  Plus snapshots taken at night are extremely rare, which is another reason for this photo’s appeal.  Now if she only could have had a mask on herself.......

Robert E. Jackson
For more on Robert E. Jackson, click here. 
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Halloween isn't so important in Turkey; the Ramazan holiday is the time when children go from door to door asking for candy. Dressing up is popular of course and like all the best dress up photos, here you might think you know what's going on but you could be very wrong.

My blog, One Man's Treasure, is where I post photographs from my collection. 

John Toohey
For more on John Toohey, click here. 
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Funny how a mask changes everything, and makes the scene way more sinister.  For me, it is because we can’t see their eyes.  I love how they arranged themselves in this photo.  Five girls, their names on the verso, three with their surname.  Sisters? Cousins?  Someone stands at the window watching the proceedings.

Janet West
For more on Janet West, click here. 
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When I was a child, Halloween was fun, never scary. We dressed up as princesses, gypsies, pirates, witches, clowns, or ballerinas and our parents would take us to visit the neighbors on our dirt road -- Mrs. Ward, the Andersons, the Wolffs, Granny Kelly, and the Bennetts. All the kids would admire each other's costumes, and we would be given candy, drink apple cider, and sometimes even bob for apples. Horror didn't enter into the occasion at all. It looks as if this boy and his dog had the same sweet kind of Halloween in their neighborhood: all treat, no tricks.  No doubt his mom made his costume (and the dog's) -- as our mom always made ours -- and lent him an old parasol. Mothers don't get enough credit.

Pat Street
For more on Pat Street, click here. 
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There is a lot more to this small Halloween snapshot than first meets the eye. It captures a group of children before they don their homemade masks and transform into the ghoulish and slightly disturbing characters that are to be found in the photographs of Ralph Eugene Meatyard and Diane Arbus. 

They have been distracted by something off camera and all bar one look away from the photographer – towards what we will never know! One side of the image is dark and contrasts with a ghostly flare of light hovering over the photographer’s shadow. 

I don’t know exactly where this photograph was taken as the only information on the reverse is a penciled month and year – October 1946. To my eyes, the children look very American in their dungarees, striped tops and t-shirts which differ markedly from the clothing worn by their European equivalents at the time.

Orla Fitzpatrick
For more on Orla Fitzpatrick, click here. 
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Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, if its a real holiday, and my wife Linda enjoys the season too.  We have a big collection of vintage Halloween items and decorate the house most of the month of September. We have dozens of snapshots of kids and adults in costume and at parties.  This was tough decision indeed!  I chose this one as it could be any or all of us, but you will have to guess which is me!  I'm not telling!!!!

Glenn Vogel

You can find Glenn set up at various shows on the east coast.

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While I own hundreds of them now, it's one of the first Pocket Kodak images I ever bought.  I love the weird shadow, that it's crooked, and that the mask is shaded, making it even creepier. It's seemingly an old man mask, complete with glasses and whiskers, yet here we have the little boy in his sailor suit.  I like photos with some kind of juxtaposition.

Erin Waters

For more on Erin Waters, click here. 

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I love this circa late 1950's Halloween still life photo because it envokes the spirit without any kids wearing scary masks. It's a lovely composition, and the nose of the pumpkin transforms the image from sublime to silly. Wouldn't you want to go trick -or- treating at this house?

Sabine Ocker

For more on Sabine Ocker, click here.

AND THE WINNER IS. . .

First a bit of a post-mortem. The premise of the contest now seems ridiculous: I wasn’t really asking you to identify photographers, but to read my mind—to guess what photographers I might have been thinking of, taking into account what you may know (or surmise) about me, my collection, and my knowledge of photography.

The terms of the contest were also flawed. What with all the public Facebook chatter, the bunch of you converged on the answers as a body, and to some extent maybe everyone was building on everyone else’s work. The results would have been more meaningful with a secret ballot. But then the whole thing would have been less fun.

A word about how the pictures were chosen. The clarity of the “equivalence” was the most important thing in my mind. You saw maybe a third of my candidates; I rejected the others because I thought they weren’t completely clear. There were photographers I desperately wanted to include, like Evans, Friedlander, and Nixon, but for one reason or another the perfect examples didn’t turn up. There are also innumerable people (Cartier-Bresson, Gutmann, Erwitt are a few that come to mind) who are the right kind of photographer, but would have been hard to bring to a sharp point—to parody, if you like—for the purposes of a game like this.

One rule I had to establish was that severe anachronism wasn’t allowed: the era of the snapshot couldn’t be glaringly out of synch with the era of the photographer being parodied. For example, I had a great “Friedlander,” a storefront with the silhouetted reflection of the photographer’s head poking up in the middle of it. But the picture antedated Friedlander by a couple of decades, and the silhouette-head was wearing a silhouette-hat. It would have been confusing, so I tossed that one and everything like it. For the same reason I didn’t feel I could include a color shot to represent a photographer who worked only in black-and-white, and vice-versa. Maybe I should have made this clear at the outset.

All right. Having gotten all that off my chest, here are the photographers I was thinking of. All were guessed by someone.

1. August Sander

2. Helen Levitt

No apologies—it’s a Levitt, man.

3. Robert Frank

The image is a bit clean and static for Frank, but the dashboard Mary or Jesus is a piece of quasi-vicious agit-prop that’s totally like him.

4. Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Uneasy figure in oddly detailed but mysterious setting, bathed in strong flash at sundown or sunup: to me it’s a giveaway.

5. Julia Margaret Cameron

6. Weegee

Am I off here? The woman looks to me like she’s mentally ill or a vagrant. That together with flash at night—who else could it be?

7. William Eggleston

8. E. J. Bellocq

Sorry for the confusion with this one. The pose suggests Bellocq, but I would not have included this if I had thought the subject was Asian. Also the picture isn’t anywhere near old enough.

9. Larry Clark

10. Cindy Sherman

I’m surprised at the argument. Maybe someone can tell me where I went wrong.

11. Gregory Crewdson

Possibly the scan isn’t what it should be (Polaroids can be difficult). But I am actually sort of proud of this one, because I’m not echoing any specific picture or pictures but taking a leap on his behalf. I don’t think I’ve seen this through-the-window angle in a Crewdson, but it’s got the house and street at night, the suggestion of a Spielbergian suburb, the mysterious occurrence. John P. proposed Jeff Wall—that’s close, because it catches the setup idea.

12. Diane Arbus

13. Mark Cohen

Is he too obscure? Check this out:

http://photographystreet.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/mark-cohen-street-photography-master/

14. Nan Goldin

And now the winners. Tied for first place are Mike Grinley and John Phelan, both of whom saw things my way in 10 cases out of 14 and each of whom will receive $10.00 credit at out.of.frame. Congratulations, Mike and John!

Tied for second place, with 9/14 apiece, are Maria DiElsi, Richie Hart, and Mark Sullo. Congratulations, Maria, Richie, and Mark!

Special mentions for firsts and/or onlies: Nick Osborn for diCorcia (#4), Richie Hart and Maria DiElsi for Weegee (#6) and Crewdson (#11), and John Phelan for Cohen (#13).

Thanks to all of you for playing my game!

Joel Rotenberg

NAME THAT PHAKE PHAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER! by Joel Rotenberg

 

These snaps have been selected for their resemblance to the work of actual, specific art photographers. The first House of Mirth reader to correctly (or plausibly) identify all 14 phake photographers will receive $10.00 credit with out.of.frame, my eBay avatar.

There are snapshot people who began buying snapshots as a way of getting cheap “equivalents” of the name art photography they couldn’t afford, and I’m sure there are people who still do it for the same reason.

I am in neither camp. I’ve never thought of snapshots as a poor man’s art photography. Nevertheless, everything I know about photography is talking to me when I look at snapshots and when I buy snapshots. I buy snapshots that remind me of other kinds of photos, snapshots that sort of remind me of art photos, and snapshots that remind me of specific art photos and photographers (along with plenty of snapshots that don’t remind me of much of anything).

I bought these, but I must tell you I am not proud of it. The snapshot pool is so gigantic and so varied that we really don’t need to copy existing photographers. The pool also contains “equivalents” of any number of other photographers, just as good, who could exist, but don’t. The collector’s question should be: Which of them can I copy?

To be fair to myself: when I buy found photos that remind me of the work of specific photographers, I suppose I am responding to the sheer accident of their existence, which is of course a large part of what foundness is all about. Most or all of what I buy owes its existence to one kind of accident or another.

Perhaps needless to say, the commonest “equivalents” are the ones that correspond to the photographers who learned the most from snapshot photography in the first place. “Diane Arbus” probably crops up the most often, because Arbus’s compositions are usually simple and frontal, very like the most common snapshot composition.

Joel Rotenberg

out.of.frame on ebay

The Art of the Snapshot?

Added by Joel:  The photographers I had in mind will be announced in a week. The contestant who comes closest will win the prize. P.S.: To eliminate excessive subjectivity, all these judgments were discussed in my house. I used only examples that by consensus were pretty clear.

Please guess here or on my facebook wall under this post (Stacy Waldman) 

Don't forget to submit a favorite Halloween photo.  Deadline is October 9th. 

LIFE'S A BEACH - A FAVORITE SNAPSHOT

If the street is where both the fine art and amateur photographer go to strengthen their capacity to see with the camera and create an evocative tableau of sights, shadows, city life and movement, then the beach is where the snapshooter goes to have fun with the camera and relax.  There can be a self-conscious artful “looking” found in street photography which isn’t present in snapshots taken on the beach.  The images presented here evoke summer as no other photo subject can.  They speak to the strong connection between leisure activity and snapshot photography.  When people are half naked, something happens to them in front of the camera--they loosen up, laugh, sleep, relax, look sexy, or appear ridiculous.  They fall in love, strike strange poses, wear funny sunglasses, get too much sun, and generally revel in their new found freedom from work and the cold of winter. These photos speak to all of that and more, causing us to smile and remember our own carefree summer days hanging out with friends, family and the ubiquitous camera which captured all of it.

I love having Snapshot People share their photos here.   Some collectors ask to be included and some I ask to contribute.  I try to get about ten images each time.  For October, I'll be asking you to share one of your favorite Halloween images.  Since this is a popular topic, I'm hoping to have a lot more than ten images.  Bring it on!    

The photos below are in no particular order.

 

The agony or ecstasy of the writhing figure plus the sign is most of what makes the picture. It probably would have worked somewhere other than a private beach, but I think the open water adds a little something.

Joel Rotenberg 

For more information on Joel, click here.

 

I have several beach photographs in my collection but always come back to this one. Its perfect pose and lighting give it a magical quality. There are very few elements within the image: the boys, the beach, the ball and the sky but the balance and composition are exquisite. 

I imagine a controlling father, probably a keen amateur photographer, directing the kids on how to pose. The long shadows hint that it was taken towards the end of a sunny day. One shadow stops abruptly, reflecting only half the boy whilst the other’s casts a direct line towards his playmate. 

The photo is devoid of any recognizable landmarks or features. It was bought in Brighton, England, so it could be from along that South coast but then again it could really be from anywhere!

Orla Fitzpatrick

For more information on Orla, click here. 

My favorite beach photo is also the first real photo postcard I ever purchased, back in 1980 when I was 18. Even though it was 30 years ago, I still remember the visceral thrill I experienced when first viewing what I have long thought of as my "Block Island Girls." I love how the photograph beautifully captures an era: the dresses, bathing costumes, and parasols of the six young women who are the focus of the image, as well as background details like the other beach goers and horse-drawn buggies. And then there are the compelling  facial expressions of the women, which I have always thought provide intriguing clues as to what their personalities were like.

The postcard was mailed from Block Island, RI, on August 5, 1909, and was sent to a Mrs. A.L. Lockwood of Hartford, CT. The message (which I've always assumed was written by one of the young women to her mother) reads, "You'd best bring a sunshade, Ma. It looks kind of auspicious! Love, E.R.L."

Robert Young

Robert is boobob92 on flickr

Vintage hand painted photograph of beach in La Jolla, California, c.1955. This photograph is enveloping - I want to jump into the picture and go surfing (that would not be such a pretty picture!).

Barbara Levine 

projectb.com - a world of vintage photographs, found artifacts, art and ideas - the obsession of Barbara Levine, curator, artist and author of Finding Frida Kahlo, Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing the American Photo Album and Around The World: The Grand Tour in Photo Albums.

Here's a late-afternoon photograph taken on the east coast. The sun is setting behind the woman taking the photo, so she's captured not just the gorgeous children but her own shadow. The breeze is blowing the ribbon of her hat and has already blown off the little girl's bonnet, which now resembles angel wings. The presence of the woman's shadow prevents this image from being sentimental pictorialism, though that's probably what she was aiming for. On the other hand, maybe she just wanted a snapshot of the children.

The empty beach, the vastness of the sea, the Hansel-and-Gretel fragility of the children, the way the little girl looks up to her stalwart older brother -- the viewer's subconscious can take all this information and supply a rich archetypal narrative.

But I bought the snapshot for the composition.

Pat Street

www.patstreet.com

Sand flows through your fingers. Uncomfortable to grab. It's fluid, without structure. The upper midwest of my youth had lakes and boathouses. Perhaps a short nibble of a beach. Wooden piers were often our beaches. The dilapidated structures near the lake - our playhouses. I often wonder if our lives would have been different if there were miles and miles of sandy beach. How would we change? The environment of youth shapes the adult. I like to think that the linear objects that surrounded us - helped to form the midwest ethic. Strong, solid and uncompromising.

I'm never happy on the sand. It's always shifting. I look for structures to find comfort.

Ron Slattery

www.bighappyfunhouse.com 

Being from the Jersey Shore, I have many opportunities to acquire beach photos and have hundreds of them.   This one is, and will be, my favorite for a long time.  It is a very recent eBay find.  I love that the girl on the right is laughing at the girl on the left.  She is getting her skirt wet doing what we call dancing in the waves. Trying not to do what has happened, only to have the camera catch her unaware as a gust of wind lifts her skirt showing her garter and undies!  So the last laugh is on her!!

Glenn Vogel

You can find Glenn selling photos at various shows in the northeast.  Up next is the Allentown Paper Show, October 1-2, and The Boston Photo Show, November 12th.

I really like this photo because of its simplicity and minimalism.  The starkness is appealing since one often associates the beach with crowds and noise.  It is one of my favorite snapshots.

Robert E. Jackson

For more information on Robert, click here.