Sepia Saturday 136 : 28 July 2012

Sepia Saturday 136 (post your posts on or around Saturday 28th July 2012) will coincide with the first full day of the 2012 London Olympics.We are all about to be buried under an avalanche of sport; drowned in a tsunami of bulging muscles, pounding trainers and in-flight javelins. Two sports you won't see featured at the Olympic Games are those trans-Atlantic rivals, cricket and baseball. Here on Sepia Saturday we don't want them to feel left out and therefore we will spotlight them here. The illustration comes from the A G Spalding Baseball Collection which forms part of the Flickr Commons collection of the New York Public Library. So off you go : sport, bats and balls, trans-Atlantic rivalry : you can throw the theme wherever you want to and, as always, you can hit it right out of the stadium if you want to. Post your post, link your link, and don't forget : try to take a trip around the rest of the bases.

Looking forward, things continue to be seasonally sporting here on Sepia Saturday for the next couple of weeks. Here's a quick preview.

So get ready for the greatest festival of old sporting photographs ever seen on Sepia Saturday. You have just seen the opening ceremony - let the games begin.

Sepia Saturday 135 : 21 July 2012

Like a security firm preparing for the Olympic Games, I am a little slow in getting my act together this week, indeed I have to declare that my internal administrative logistics and my short-term management overview have been running below par ever since I returned from holiday. Still, I hereby promise to do better and I hope that these current problems will not interfere with the payment of my normal Sepia Saturday bonus. Having got that out of the way let me say welcome to Sepia Saturday 135 where we are away with the fairies. To be exact we are with the "Health Fairy" with this 1920 image from the Flickr collection of Cornell University Library which is catalogued as "Two views of the ''Health Fairy,'' who appeared at Ithaca High School in 1920 under the co-sponsorship of the Child Health Organization and local groups". As always you can make of it what you choose or, if you so choose, make nothing of it at all. Just post your posts (on or around Saturday 21st July), link your links, and make your visits - you know the routine by now.

For those who like a sneak preview, here are the next two Sepia Saturday archive prompts:

It looks like we have got a sporting time ahead of us. But for now let us stay with the Health Fairy as we all gather around for Sepia Saturday 135.

Sepia Saturday 134 : 14 July 134

I am back from my travels and I see that Sepia Saturday has gone from strength to strength in my absence. Once again I would like to thank Marilyn (Little Nell) for running the office so efficiently and effectively during my absence. I have come back to discover a new arrival in the form of our theme image for Sepia Saturday 134 (post your posts on or around Saturday 14 July). The photograph comes from the George Eastman Collection available on Flickr Commons and is entitled Autriche Vienne. In her note to me, Marilyn says of the image, that apart from the "baby and pram theme, there’s the Viennese connection, costume and rich patterns of the textiles". Maybe it's a gender thing, but I also see sleepless nights, smelly nappies, and endless worry and expense! Whatever your interpretation - or even if you want to ignore the theme and post an old image - post your posts, link them via the Linky List, and try and visit as many other Sepia contributors as possible. And don't forget to provide a link back to the Sepia Saturday Blog so that others are encouraged to take part in the sepia tour.

As usual, we have a couple of sneak previews of the images that will be used for Sepia Saturdays 135 and 136. After that I am going with a suggestion made by Marilyn that we invite Sepia Saturday regulars to suggest archive theme images. This is slightly different from the past where we have invited suggestions for actual themes : by asking for theme images we are allowing for the freedom of creative interpretation which has become such a part of the Sepia Saturday experience. It is important to note that there must be no copyright restrictions on the suggested image (both Flickr Commons and Wikipedia are useful sources of such material) and that it is of medium or high quality (say 750 pixel by 500 pixels or above). You could, if you so choose, submit one of your own archive images as a potential theme, and if you do so I will assume that you are giving Sepia Saturday permission to reproduce it. Just send me a link to the image, or in the case of your own images, the image file. I will try and make use of as many suggestions as possible over the coming weeks.

We have already got archive images for the next two Sepia Saturday weeks and here is a quick preview for those who like to plan ahead.

So get posting and get linking. And when the weekend comes, put the baby in the pram and take a stroll around the other Sepia Saturday participants and enjoy the sights.

Sepia Saturday 133 : 7 July 2012

Today’s image of a baby elephant at Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia, is by Sam Hood (1872-1953) and comes from The State Library of New South Wales via flickr. It was taken about 1930. If you want to pick up a theme, apart from the obvious one of elephants, how about: zoos, animal sanctuaries, children and pets, baby animals, circuses, or as Wendy offered on our Facebook page, trunks or wrinkled skin (with a warning about self portraits) and Kathy suggested big ears - which I suppose should carry the same warning. There’s no need to follow the theme if you have a lovely old image to share with us of course, because it really is the taking part that’s important on Sepia Saturday.

When you’re ready to join in don’t forget to add your name to Mr Linky below and paste in the URL of your Sepia Saturday post (not your blog) so that we know where to find you when we come calling. Then, after linking, leave a comment please.Try to visit as many other SS participants as you can during the following week to see what they’ve done with the prompt - or not. Here’s a mini-banner for you to add to your post, which helps to give Sepia Saturday a plug, and even if you don’t use it please give us a mention to encourage your readers to visit us too.

Baby elephants are always a big crowd-pleaser and Taronga Zoo has three at the moment, including one born last year and filmed in the You Tube video below, showing off all their best tricks. Stand by for an “Awwww” moment.

Now, it’s time to share the images for the next two weeks for those who need a little longer to ponder on the direction they’re going with their contribution. Alan will be sailing back to us tomorrow, so next week I’ll be handing back the Sepia Saturday reins to him. Thanks for all the encouragment and kind words; it’s been fun.
Marilyn