Sepia Saturday Week 25

IT is often said that old photographs are a window to the past. This is of course true, they help us to get a feel of past times like no other medium. But just as you can sit and gaze through a window and see more and more the longer you look, these old photographs can provide layer after layer of hidden information. And it often is the process of scanning, enlarging and preparing for publication that pulls the shades aside and allows you to see so much more. Sepia Saturday blogger Nancy (My Ancestors And Me) alluded to this process in her excellent post last week ("Two Bits"). She spoke of how she eventually was able to date the photograph of her barber grandfather by the date showing in the calendar in the background (if you haven't read Nancy's post, read it for the superb quality of the writing just as much as for the photographic investigation).  

Information in the foreground, information in the background - whatever the old photograph, it is welcome on the Sepia Saturday Blog. Sepia Saturday 25 will be on Saturday 29th May  2010. Post your post and sign up on the Linky List below.

Sepia Saturday Week 24

In his excellent Sepia Saturday post last week, CrazyasaCoolfox spoke of tangible history. He was referring to a small corner chair which featured in a couple of old family pictures and which still exists within the family. Such objects that are handed down are tangible history : physical things that provide a direct link to the past. The pictures we feature in our Sepia Saturday posts are also examples of tangible history : objects that were once lovingly handled by distant generations and carefully saved and passed down from one generation to the next. They were saved and shared because it was felt that they said something important. They recorded times of joy or triumph and occasionally times of sadness and loss. The fact that we can still share these emotions today is witness to the tangible nature of photographs as historical conduits. To see what tangible history will be shared this week take a look at the people who are participating in Sepia Saturday Week 24 (Saturday 22 May 2010). To join in the fun simple put a post together based on an old photograph and sign up to the Link List below.

Sepia Saturday Week 23

The "sepia" in Sepia Saturday is a general evocation rather than a defining classification. When Kat and I had the idea for Sepia Saturday we wanted a site where old photographs of whatever vintage provided the prompt for memories and musings. The word "sepia" was redolent of the photographic past in the same way that we hoped the photographs featured by all the many contributors would be redolent of a spread of decades and a spread of cultures. I always find that some images can proclaim a particular time in the same way that popular music can. As I look at the magnificent mix of images featured by all the Sepia Saturday contributors, I sometimes have an  imagined soundtrack playing along. With some pictures you would have the plucking of a pioneer banjo, with others the excitement of an early jazz band.  But with the wonderful pictures featured by Anita of the negativespace blog over the last couple of weeks it is the sound of Sinatra and the Billy May Orchestra. The photographs have the 1950s running through them : the sophistication, the modernism, the hope and the sheer love of post-war life.

You can keep my imaginary soundtrack playing for another week by signing up for Sepia Saturday 23 which will take place on Saturday 15th May 2010. All you have to do is to put up your post and then link by using the following Linky List.

Sepia Saturday Week 22

We are up to Week 22 of Sepia Saturday and, although by now a number of patterns have emerged, the delight of S-S remains the diversity of approach. Some people post long carefully researched pieces, others short, snappy insights. Some tell of people, others tell of houses or even bridges. Some limit themselves to just one photograph, some use a whole series of photographs to tell a story. A fine example of using a series of photographs to tell the story of a person was the post last week by Sean Bentley in his Eff-Stop Local Blog. Posts of this kind are a delight, it is like paging through an old family album.

Whether you tell it long or short, fat or thin, up or down, tell it on Week 22 of Sepia Saturday which will be on Saturday 8th May 2010. All you have to do is to link your post via the Linky List below (either before or after the event) and the rest - as they say - is history.