Sepia Saturday 588 : 18 September 2021

 

So, here we are, at the end of the alphabet: we are in a covered bridge going to who knows where. Behind us is the past, in front of us is the future. Most philosophers and newspaper agony aunts would tell us, in no uncertain words, that we must look to the future: forget the past, tomorrow is a new day. But here, on Sepia Saturday, we do exactly the opposite: for a brief moment let us forget the future and all that it has in store for us, and turn to the past. Here on Sepia Saturday we have been turning to the past for over a decade and we will continue to do so. So, for the final theme in our archive alphabet series, all you need to do is to turn to the past with your choice of old photograph, post it in a post on or around Saturday 18th September, and add a link to the list below.

Here on Sepia Saturday we have, at times, had themes; and at other times just invited people to share their favourite old photographs. For the next month or so, we are going to do the latter and have what we used to call "open themes". I will still feature an image on the weekly call post, so if you really do want themes, you can always try and match that. Let's see how it goes. Here's a preview of next week's call image:-

Sepia Saturday 587 : 11 September 2021

 

Who would have ever thought it when we started this alphabetical tour of old photograph archives that we would get around to the letter W and have XYZ waiting around the corner? But there again, who would have thought twelve years ago that Sepia Saturday would reach Week 587 and still be going? Granted, the numbers have fallen off - back in those early days we were getting 30+ contributors every week - but it has never been about numbers. I have a feeling that Sepia Saturday will keep strolling along - never in a hurry, never taking itself too seriously - until my blogging days are over, when hopefully someone else might take the role on. Do we need a revamp? Probably. Do we need to connect more enthusiastically to social media in all its' manifestations? More than likely. Will we manage it in the future? Probably not! That's the nature of the Sepia Saturday beast, and that is how it will keep moving along - at a slow but steady pace with plenty of stops to small the sepia roses. Sepia Saturday 587 has a picture of someone playing patience: individualistic, contemplative, satisfying .... all the things Sepia Saturday tries to be. If you want to join in, join in with an old photograph and a few words on or around Saturday 11 September 2021, and add a link to the list below.

Here is the last of the alphabetical themes - what follows that? Stick around and find out!

Sepia Saturday 586 : 4 September 2021

 

For Sepia Saturday 586, our theme image comes from the Library of Virginia and features a page from an old photograph album. For those wanting to follow a theme, here is your chance to turn the spotlight on the pages for a change, instead of the individual photographs. It might be the layout, it might be the captions, it might be the selection of photographs .... or it might be something else entirely. It might be V for vintage or vegetables or very special photographs. Whatever it is, share your old photo on or around Saturday 4th September 2021 and add a link to the list below. And here are a reminder of the final two stops on our alphabet tour of the archives.

Sepia Saturday 585 : 28 August 2021

I must ask for your Understanding. I Underestimated the amount of time left before I needed to put Up the Sepia Saturday prompt image. Under the circumstances, I will Undertake to be on time in future - Unless, of course, I forget again. Oh, and by the way, we have reached the letter U in our tour through the archives. U know the routine by now - post your post on or around Saturday 28th August and add a link to the list below. Here is the rest of the alphabet:-

Sepia Saturday 584 : 21 August 2021

Our Sepia Saturday archive tour has reached the letter T, and where better to stop for tea that with the President of Turkey who has agreed to show us around his archives. With the continuing travel restrictions due to the COVID pandemic, we are, of course, having to do this virtually, and with the help of the Flickr Commons initiative. For our theme image we have chosen a 1930s photograph of a movie screening in the Turkish village of Ballikpinar. This illustrates the power of images - both still images and moving images - to transcend history. In choosing your submission you can transcend history, have a cup of tea, watch a movie, or do almost anything you want to. Just post a post on or around Saturday 21 August 2021 and add a link to the list below. The alphabet is running out, here are the final group of archives stops:-

 

Sepia Saturday 583 : 14 August 2021

 

Busy street, busy times, people out on the streets, mixing together : well, we can dream can't we! This week our Sepia Saturday Archive A-Z has reached the letter S and we are calling in on the archives of the Salt Research Institute. You can take from the prompt what you will - there are enough potential themes there to keep everyone busy. All you need to do is to choose you theme, choose your photo, post your post, and add a link to the list below on or around Saturday 14th August. And look who has been busy - here are the rest of the prompts in this Sepia Saturday sequence. After we get to the letter Z what happens - wait and see ... it's time for some changes.

Sepia Saturday 582 : 7 August 2021

 

Our tour of the archives has taken us to the letter R, and R stands for Riksarkivet - the National Archives of Norway. By a happy coincidence, R also stands for the Rolling Stones, and it is a picture from a Rolling Stones concert that provides us with our theme image this week. Once again it is time to get out your old images, paint them black and white (or sepia), get all the satisfaction you want, and climb onto this sepia cloud of mine. You can go with the stones, go with the r's or go in any direction you want, just post your post on or around Saturday 7th August and add a link to the list below. And here is next week's prompt - T,U,V, W and XYZ will follow shortly.

Sepia Saturday 581 : 31 July 2021

 

Here we are at letter Q, and equally here we are at the seaside in Southport. For me, Southport means the seaside town just north of Liverpool, but I am well aware that I might equally be in the USA or South Africa or Australia. The Southport featured in our theme image this week is the town of Southport in Queensland, Australia. In addition to the potential theme of south ports, war memorials, palm trees and field guns, you could also try anything that starts with the letter Q. Or, there again, you could just post any old photo you please on or around Saturday 31st July 2021 and add a link to the list below.  And where else could you possibly go to after Southport other than to a Rolling Stones concert in Norway. You can always find variety on Sepia Saturday!

Sepia Saturday 580 : Saturday 24 July 2021

 

Our Sepia Saturday images usually remind us of times gone by, times that have fallen out of fashion, times when values were different to those we have now. This week's Sepia Saturday theme image is no exception to this rule, but it is not the rather splendid picture of the actress Marlene Dietrich that is illustrative of a different age, but the fact that it appeared on a picture card to be found within a packet of cigarettes. I can remember collecting cigarette cards as a child, anxiously awaiting my father buying a new packet to see what delight I would find inside. I could even mimic the habits of adults by stopping at the seat shop on my way to school and buying a packet of sweet cigarettes, and such packets equally has picture cards inside.

Such picture cards today remind us that the "good old days" were sometimes the rather silly old days. Photographs are never silly, however, so we ask you to look out whatever old photograph comes to mind when you see this week's theme image. Include it in a post and post your post on or around Saturday 24th July 2021 and add a link to the list below. And here is a list of what is around the Sepia Saturday corner:-

Sepia Saturday 579 : 17 July 2021

 

What more could you want from a Sepia Saturday prompt? Everybody must have a photograph of people playing ukuleles in their family archives or collections of old photographs! If not, there is always Elvis Presley (it doesn't even look like him!) or the very rare sight of lawyers having a laugh! Whatever you can come up with in response to this week's prompt, come up with it on or around Saturday 17th July 2021 and add a link to the list below. And after a week of Elvis Presley and ukuleles, where are we going next week? To Marlene Dietrich and cigarette packets - where else?

Sepia Saturday 578 : Saturday 10th July 2021

 

We are on a tour of photographic archives and the letter N takes us to the National Library of Norway. From their collection (available via their Flickr Commons stream) I have chosen this rather good portrait of Grace Holst. Who was Grace Holst, I can hear you all saying, and what was her relationship with the famed Gustav of the Planet Suit fame? The answer is, I don't really know, and other than the fact that she was a Norwegian-American soprano, I can find no information about her. So, if you are looking for a theme this week, it could be pictures of unknown people. We all have these amongst our collections of family photographs - they may be cousin Ethel, or Uncle Walters' "friend", or they may be a semi-famous Norwegian-American soprano. You don't need to follow that theme suggestions - there are always fur coats, strings of pearls and the inevitable hat. Whatever you follow - or ignore - just post your posts on or around Saturday 10th July and add a link to the list below. And whilst you whistle a happy tune, take a look at what is coming up.

Sepia Saturday 577 : 3 July 2021

 

A group on the steps! It's a classic pose for photographs of a certain age, an age between studio cameras and built-in flash guns. If you wanted to record a gathering, get the people to gather together and take them out onto the steps. You have light, you have a natural platform which will enable rows of heads to be pictured without blocking each other out, you have a memory captured for ever. Our theme image this week celebrates classic poses, groups of women, steps, university days and empty chairs. Whichever particular theme you are following, simply post your post on or around Saturday 3 July 2021, and add a link to the list below. And whilst you are standing about, take a look at what lies ahead.

Sepia Saturday 576 : 26 June 2021

 

Here on Sepia Saturday, we are on a journey, visiting some of the finest photographic archives in the world to provide theme images for our weekly call for posts. This week, we have reached  the letter L and we are calling in at the Liberas Archives in France for a street view  from the 1950s. You can match the scene with street views or photos from the 1950s or whatever interpretation you care to give us. Simply post your posts on or around Saturday 26th June and add a link to the list below. And whilst you are hanging around on a street corner, take an opportunity to see what is around the sepia corner.

Sepia Saturday 575 : 19 June 2021

 

Speeding our alphabetical way through the Flickr Commons Photo Archives we reach the letter K and the photographic archives of Keene Public Library. What better way to arrive in Keene, New Hampshire than on a vintage Harley-Davison motorbike. Whether you are balanced precariously on a bike or sat comfortably in a sidecar, you can look out for potential prompts in this week's theme image. Once you have found them, add a photo to a post, add the post to the list, and post on or around Saturday 19th June 2021. It's as easy as that.

And so that at the same time you can keep an eye on the road ahead, here are the next two theme images:-

Sepia Saturday 574 : 12 June 2021

 

We are taking a leisurely stroll through the photographic archives available via the Flickr Commons initiative, and having reached the letter J we have called in on the Jewish Women's Archives. This has provided us with a theme image full of possibilities whether it be radio stations, phone calls, wartime brides or floral ties. As usual, all you have to do is to feature an old photograph of your own, and link your post to the list below on or around Saturday 12 June 2021.

Here are the next two theme images for you to think about.

Sepia Saturday 573 : 5 June 2021

 

A soldier in uniform, looking carefree, a smile on his face, having a final photograph taken before an inevitable descent into hell. We have a name but we don't know the story: perhaps he lived, perhaps he died; almost certainly there will have been scars, both mental and physical. Old photographs are like that - a moment frozen in time and isolated from the joy and the misery, the success and the failure which is life. Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week comes from the Imperial War Museum collection on Flickr Commons. You can follow the theme or ignore the them, the choice is yours. In a wider sense the theme is - as it is very week - frozen moments in lost lives and all our Sepia Saturday posts follow in those footsteps. Simply post your post on or around Saturday 5th June 2021 and add a link to the list below.

Here are the next two theme images - J and K in our alphabetical tour of the Archives - to help you plan your future Sepia Saturday posts.