Sepia Saturday 43

Last week Joan over at Sempiterna Me told us a lovely story about the origin of her middle name Ivette. Like so many names, the name had been handed down within the family and adapted from that of her Uncle Ivan. It reminded me that, long before photography existed, most families would attempt to preserve precious family ties by something as simple as a shared name. My own son has Holroyd as a middle name, a name that has been in his mothers' family for generations.

Over the last 43 weeks I have been able to bring many of the names of the regular participants in Sepia Saturday to your attention with my weekly introductory remarks. However for the next four weeks or so I am going to have to introduce some changes as later in October I will be away on holiday. I intend to pre-publish the calls and (hopefully) get blogger to post them at the appropriate time. This, however, means that I will not be able to reflect on the previous weeks' posts. But, don't worry, the normal introduction will return as soon as I return from holiday. And I will carry on working through the long list of participants until I have featured everyone. More information about my absence next week, until then please join in with Sepia Saturday 43 which will take place on or around Saturday 2nd October. Just post your post and link your link and let us know your name.

Sepia Saturday 42

There is something about a school photograph. Something timeless and placeless about the faces, the expressions, the look of carefree mischief or stern self control. Change the clothes and change the hairstyles of this photograph featured by Jo in her wonderful Sepia Saturday post last week and it could be 100 years ago, 50 years ago, or now. It could be old Scotland or Nova Scotia. Down the ages and from every part of the world those same young faces have stared into the camera, captured for ever in their youth. 

Sepia Saturday 42 will take place on or around Saturday 25th September. You can post any type of photo you want as long as it moves us backwards and allows us to remember things that should never be forgotten. Simply link your post by signing the Linking List below.

Sepia Saturday 41

The Internet has allowed us to do so many things, but perhaps the most fascinating, the most intriguing and the most intellectually liberating of all is the ability it gives us to trace connections. It sits each and every one of us in the greatest reference library ever established and provides us with a team of indexers. lexicographers, and research assistants to help track down the most obscure connection. The result are usually such as to make you give praise at the shrine of Saint Alan Turing that you were born in the digital age. Take for example the old sepia shot of an American couple featured by Southwest Arkie in her Sepia Saturday post last week. An old photograph - "worn by toil and sunk with years" to quote a poem written on the reverse of another photograph from the same collection - can provide connections to people long dead and event long forgotten when in the hands of an expert sleuth like Southwest Arkie. Tracing all these connections provides a great source of pleasure to both the writer and the reader : which, I suppose, is what Sepia Saturday is all about.

So Sepia Saturday 41 is now open for business. Connect up to us on or around Saturday 18th September by leaving a link to your Sepia Saturday post. Share the images and share the pleasure.

Sepia Saturday 40

This lovely photograph of Great Grandfather Ashby with Audrey Bull was submitted to Sepia Saturday 39 by Frogmum. It went up rather late (or it might have been an early submission for SS40) so many of you might have missed it : if so you can have a closer look at it by following the link to Frogmum's flickr page. The old photograph has had some re-editing and retouching and, despite its age, it has a delightfully fresh feel about it. I, for one, look forward to seeing more of Frogmum's Sepia Saturday contributions.

On Flickr, on Blogger, on Wordpress or wherever, it matters not. Keep those Sepia Saturday contribution coming in. Sepia Saturday 40 will take place on or around Saturday 11th September 2010. Just post a post and link a link.

Sepia Saturday 39

The ability to click and enlarge is often a vital attribute for Sepia Saturday posts. These old photographs of ours not only contain a wealth of detail that can be examined with the precision and care of an archaeologist, the older photographs often require careful scrutiny in order to distinguish essential elements. Last week's delightful post from Patricia Felmy (Stories, Yarns and Tales of Olde) was a perfect example. The post had pictures of two young ladies, dressed almost identically and taken in what appears to be the same studio. You needed to click and enlarge to realise that they were two quite separate people, Pat's Great Grandmother Mary, and her Great, Great Aunt Elizabeth. Like so many of out posts, we got some added bonuses with the images : in this case a recipe for dandelion cordial.

If you have anything you would like us to click and enlarge, why not submit it to Sepia Saturday. Just link your post to the Linky List below. Sepia Saturday 39 will take place on or around Saturday 4th September 2010.