What better subject to celebrate on a site devoted to old photographs that old photographers! Our weekly trawl through the various archives which contribute to the Flickr Commons initiative has reached the UK National Science and Media Museum's collection and I have chosen a late nineteenth century photograph of a group of studio photographers as our theme image this week. I invite old photographers or young photographers or lovers of old photographs of any age to share a photograph by linking their post to the list below on or around Saturday 7th February 2026. And, before you grow too old, take a look at the rest of our February themes.
Our trip through the various museums and archives that are affiliated to the Flickr Commons initiative arrives at the George Eastman Museum Collection. Our theme image is an 1880 Carte-de-Visite photograph of a circus contortionist and it celebrates "Strange Shapes". It can just as well celebrate unexpected angles. striped clothes, upside down, circus entertainers or, this being Sepia Saturday where the rules are as flexible as this poor soul's body, anything you want. Just post a post on or around Saturday 31st January 2026 and add a link to the list below. Once you've done that, you can shape up to what is to come in February.
Our Sepia Saturday theme this week is "Transport In Times Gone By" and it is immediately apparent that transport back in the days of old was not always on time. Often it was late - and very occasionally it was early! Yes, well done to all those who spotted the mistake, this Saturday will be the 24th January and not the 23rd. Mistakes apart, we would like like to park you old cars, buses, horses and carts, bicycles, or whatever, on or around Saturday 24th January 2026 and add a link to the list below. Once in place you can check out to see if there are any mistakes in the future Sepia Saturday programme.
A postman delivering parcels in a snow covered landscape - it's a timeless theme which has attracted photographers for well over a century. These days the postman might be replaced by the self-powered Amazon delivery robot, but science and technology has not been able to get rid of the snow yet. Snow and post are just a couple of potential themes you might want to pick up for this week's Sepia Saturday challenge. Whatever themes you choose you can deliver your Sepia Saturday post by posting it on or around Saturday 17th January 2026 and adding a link to the list below. And whilst you are at the post office you might want to see what is coming in future Sepia Saturday deliveries:
Throughout history, men and women have had to work in order to survive. Throughout photographic history, men and women have occasionally taken their cameras into work with them in order to create a photographic record of their endeavours. This week on Sepia Saturday we are celebrating work in days gone by as represented in old photographs, and our theme image comes from the Flickr Commons Collection of the Powerhouse Museum in Australia. We are currently working our way through the various collections that are part of the magnificent Flickr Commons initiative, and the Powerhouse Museum was one of the founding institutions of Flickr Commons.
You can add your own contribution on the theme of "work in days gone by" (or any theme you want) by linking your post to the list below on or around Saturday 10th January 2026. And just in case you want to explore "work in days to come" here is a list of our themes for the rest of the month.
Happy New Year to all lovers of old photographs and all friends and followers of Sepia Saturday. Since 2009, Sepia Saturday has been providing a platform for enthusiasts to share their old photographs with others throughout the world by means of our weekly theme-based blog. Although there always tends to be a theme, we have always emphasised that going off-theme was perfectly acceptable - the theme isn't really important - the old photographs are. Sepia Saturday is now in its 807th week and we start 2026 with a theme image that is not only an old photograph - it is a recognised work of art as well: Dorothea Lange's famous 1936 photograph of a Californian agricultural worker.
The photograph comes from the Library of Congress collection of images on the Flickr Commons platform. Flickr Commons has been running a year longer than Sepia Saturday and has managed to bring together over 100 museums and archives from over 25 countries to share their photographic archives on-line. It is a wonderful resource and it has done so much to spread the understanding of the importance of our shared photographic history. The theme images for the next couple of years on Sepia Saturday will be drawn from the various collections available on Flickr Commons, and our first image is therefore from one of the founder institutions - the Library of Congress.
You can add to that joint photographic heritage by sharing an old photograph, whether it is a work of art or not, on Sepia Saturday by adding a link to the list below on or around Saturday 3rd January 2026.
Here are the other January theme images which all come from other Flickr Commons participating institutions.
It's that time of the year again, the time when Sepia Saturday puts its festive costume on, the time that the themes come drizzled in snowflakes, and the time when I get so busy trying to remember what I am doing I forget to put the future theme calls up! Here, however, is the all important Christmas and New Year call and along with it comes my usual seasonal greetings to all lovers of old photographs and all supporters of Sepia Saturday. You can join in with our festive sepia challenge by posting your favourite old photographs over the Christmas and New Year period and adding a link to the list below. Sepia Saturday will return to our normal weekly call on the 3rd January 2026. My best wishes for a Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year to you all.
