Creating spectacular images in the face of technical and physical adversity, Captain Alfred G Buckham (1879-1956) was the foremost aerial photographer of his day. Between 1908 to the early 1930s, Buckham created aerial portraits that are awe-inspiring, poetic and works of technical brilliance. During the First World War he was Captain in the Royal NavalContinue reading “Extraordinary Aerial Photographs of London From the 1920s”
Tag Archives: photography
Amazing Vintage Photographs of 1900 One Thousand Mile Trial
In 1900, automobiles weren’t much more impressive than the horse-drawn carriages they were meant to replace. Internal combustion engines offered about 12 horsepower, but they were also loud, dirty, and unreliable. In a public effort to dispel that image—or at least the unreliable part—the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland organized the 1,000 MileContinue reading “Amazing Vintage Photographs of 1900 One Thousand Mile Trial”
Abolitionist Button, ca. 1850s
Abolitionist Button is an early photography daguerreotype and gold photographic print created from between the 1840s to the 1850s. It lives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The image is in the public domain, and tagged jewelry and political work. This miniature daguerreotype shows two hands resting on a book. The photographContinue reading “Abolitionist Button, ca. 1850s”
Yesterday Today: August 11
Marilyn Monroe and screenwriter Arthur Miller on set of the film ‘The Misfits’, 1961. Two little girls reading a board advertising carrots instead of ice lollies, 1941. Wartime shortages made such substitutions a necessity.
40 Wonderful Portrait Photos of Women Posing With Their Books From the Mid-19th Century
Women formed a large and increasing part of the new novel-reading public. The traditional discrepancy between male and female literacy rates was narrowed, and finally eliminated by the end of the 19th century. The gap had always been the widest at the lowest end of the social scale. Perhaps more women than we realize couldContinue reading “40 Wonderful Portrait Photos of Women Posing With Their Books From the Mid-19th Century”
Winter, Fifth Avenue (1893)
Winter, Fifth Avenue is a black and white photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz in 1893. The photograph was made at the corner of the Fifth Avenue and the 35th Street in New York. It was one of the first pictures that Stieglitz took using a more practical hand camera after his return from Europe.
Animals in Daguerreotypes in the Early Years of Photography
Daguerreotypes, the first commercial form of photography, appeared in America around the year 1839. These were produced by first sensitizing a polished silvered copper plate with iodine vapor, and then exposing the plate to light. The image was developed over hot mercury, fixed, and rinsed. This was a direct positive process, meaning that no negativesContinue reading “Animals in Daguerreotypes in the Early Years of Photography”
Calamity Jane Mugging at Wild Bill Hickok’s Grave, 1903
A historic photo of Martha Jane Cannary, better known as Calamity Jane, mugging at the grave of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood, South Dakota, ca. 1903.
Mabel Love: One of the Great Stage Beauties in Late Victorian and Edwardian Eras
Mabel Love (16 October 1874 – 15 May 1953), was a British dancer and stage actress. She was considered to be one of the great stage beauties of her age, and her career spanned the late Victorian era and the Edwardian period. In 1894, Winston Churchill wrote to her asking for a signed photograph. AmongContinue reading “Mabel Love: One of the Great Stage Beauties in Late Victorian and Edwardian Eras”