Sepia Saturday 158 : 5 January 2013

I don't know about you, but I am still a little worse for wear following a prolonged spell of seasonal over-indulgence. I have had too many encounters with flagons of alcohol, held up too many bottles of beer in mock celebration of the New Year, and heard the drone of bagpipes for far too long. I want to leave this all-too-merry feeling behind and launch a sober mood here on Sepia Saturday in keeping with the season of resolutions and reflections. With this in mind, here is your archive theme image for Sepia Saturday 158 - post your posts on or around Saturday 5th January 2013.

Our picture dates from 1915 and shows Scottish soldiers at the entrance to their hut on the Western Front. There are plenty of potential themes for you to get your teeth into here, but just in case you are crawling away with a sore head in search of a little peace and solitude, I will remind you that you don't have to be "on theme" at all, just an old photograph and some new reflections. After posting your post just add a link to the list below.

As usual, here is a preview of the next two Sepia Saturday theme images:

159 12 January : We may be in the middle of winter here in the Northern hemisphere, but Sepia Saturday is a global phenomenon. So it is time to get those bathing costumes out and take to the seaside sands.

160 19 January : There are all sorts of potential themes here : pictures without a subject, left and right, old trucks.

Those a just a few thoughts to get you started, as always with Sepia Saturday there is no Sat Nav telling you where to go. But that is for the future; for Sepia Saturday 158 let us have a final celebration before the depths of Winter surround us (except for those in the Southern Hemisphere who can have a final celebration of high summer)

Sepia Saturday 157 : Christmas 2012

It is Christmas time here on Sepia Saturday and, as usual, we are having a Sepia Season by having just one call for the entire Christmas and New Year Season. So you can post your contributions to Sepia Saturday 157 at your leisure and add a link to the list below when you get a few minutes between eating the mince pies  and pulling the Christmas crackers. You could even join in the singing with Santa Claus on this tram in Stockholm in 1950, or you could give us your own take on Christmas based on your old photographs, or ignore any pretext of a theme and just share a fascinating old photograph. Just post your post, link your link, and have a wonderful Christmas. The normal Sepia Saturday will return on Saturday 5th January and here is a quick preview of our next two theme images.

Before I go, I would like to wish all Sepia Saturday followers and participants a most happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. In particular, can I take this opportunity to thank the two people who have helped me so much in keeping the Sepia Calls coming each week by taking over the reins when I have been away : Marilyn Brindley (Little Nell) and Kat Mortensen. I know many of us have had Marilyn in our thoughts over recent weeks as she has had to cope with the loss of both her father and her sister-in-law. Marilyn e-mailed me the other day and asked me to pass on her thanks to all her Sepia Saturday friends for their support in this difficult time and to say that she will be posting again in the new year. 

Over the years, Sepia Saturday has become a wonderful supportive community, one which I am very proud to be a member of. Thank you all for making it so, have a splendid Christmas and New Year.

Alan

Sepia Saturday 156 : 15 December 2012

As we move towards the Festive Season, it is time to get out the mistletoe, hang it from every doorway and encourage an epidemic of kissing. Not that these two seem to need too much encouragement : the photograph was taken in the late 1920s and has been made available from the Australian National Maritime Collection via Flickr Commons. As always, you can go where you want with this theme image, or if you prefer, you can ignore it all together. We are not asking for a passionate kiss, nor even a peck on the cheek : just an old image and some new reflections to be published on or around Saturday the 15th of December. Once your post is up, add a link to the list below and join in the fun.

Please remember, that there is just one call over the Christmas and New Year period (Sepia Saturday 157) and then we will be back as normal on the 5th January with Sepia Saturday 158. Here is a quick preview of the next two archive images:

All that lies in the future. For the moment, "give us a kiss for Christmas".

Sepia Saturday 155 : 8 December 2012

It is true to say of my old family photographs - and from what I have seen over the years, the same is true of most other Sepians (I love that word but it was invented by Ticklebear and not by me) - that photographs from the first half of the twentieth century either feature one's relatives in their Sunday best, or in their overalls. Well so often in Sepia Saturday we have turned our spotlight on the Sunday finery,  so this week I want to focus the spotlight on the humble overalls (and, workwear of all types). Now regular Sepians who are members of the Royal Houses of Europe - and there are several of them, aren't there your majesty? - may have trouble finding a working relative, but I suspect the rest of us won't find it too much of a challenge. And you can always interpret my archive theme image - which is from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia - in any way that you want to. All you need do is to post your post on or around Saturday the 8th December 2012 and add a link to the list below.

And as we approach the festive season, the advanced warning of what is to come might be particularly useful. As usual, I have made SS157 a Christmas Call rather than focussing on a particular day so people can have maximum flexibility during this busy time. The normal weekly Sepia Saturday service will resume with SS158 on Saturday 5th January 2013. Here are the next two archive images :

But all that is in the future. For the moment, roll up your sleeves, put your overalls on and get working hard with your contribution to Sepia Saturday 155.

Sepia Saturday 154 : 1 December 2012

Bridges have always had symbolic meaning. When discussions were taking place on the design of the first Euro notes, it was decided that the common illustration on all denominations should be a bridge - to symbolise the joining together of people, communities, and nations. Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week is entitled "Rough Wooden Bridge Over River, Group With Dog on the Shore". It comes, via Flickr Commons, from the Phillips Glass Plate Negative Collection, at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. The Museum provides no further information about where the bridge is, but the brilliance of on-line communities such as Flickr Commons (or, indeed, Sepia Saturday) is that such information is soon forthcoming : the footbridge was in Mosman Bay on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. The location of the photograph is not the only question posed by the title - it takes a sharp eye to spot the reported dog. 

You Sepia Saturday theme for this week could therefore be bridges, lakes, rowing boats, dogs (present or absent), or whatever you care to make it. Just post your post on or around Saturday 1st December 2012 and add a link to the list below. 

As usual, here is a sneak preview of the next two Sepia Saturday images :

Overalls and kisses are for the future, however. For the moment, step onto the bridge to the past that is Sepia Saturday and post your images for Sepia Saturday 154.

Sepia Saturday 153 : 24 November 2012

Old photographs are wonderful aren't they? I know I am preaching to the converted, but isn't it wonderful how an old photograph can send you on a journey : a fascinating journey of discovery. Take our archive image this week which comes from the Samuel Bell Maxey Collection at the Texas State Archives and is available via the wonderful Flickr Commons service. The only information provided is that it is a photograph of  Lala Williams and Elgie Crook, but with just a few Google clicks you can discover that ...... Well, I don't want to spoil the journey for you, so go and click your own Google and take your own journey of discovery.

And so this is our theme image this week - post your posts on or around Saturday 24 November and link them to the list blow - and there are one hundred and one theme strands you may care to follow. All you need to do is to look into those two faces and let your imagination run free.

So that your imagination can shop early for Christmas, here are the next two Sepia Saturday archive image prompts.

But for the moment look again at the photograph of Lala and Elgie and let it work its sepia magic.

Sepia Saturday 152 : 17 November 2012

Our Sepia Saturday Archive Picture Prompt this week comes from the collection of the New York Public Library and features a group of children avidly reading their books following a talk about books by the staff of the Library. The picture dates back to the 1920s (note : there is not a Kindle in sight) and offers a variety of potential directions for Sepia Posters to take (books, reading, kids, libraries, ridiculous check jackets ... or whatever). The only instruction, as usual, is to post your post on or around Saturday 17th November 2012 and include a link on the list below.

Now I know we had a reading prompt fairy recently and you may think that the Sepia Saturday archivist has once again lost the plot (especially as there was a strikingly similar image previewed for SS153). And you would be right. However, I have swallowed a couple of those little yellow pills and things seem much clearer now. Therefore I have decided to withdraw the prompt image for SS153, replace it with a new one, and forget the whole episode ever happened (I suspect I need a holiday). So here is a preview of the next two Sepia Saturday prompts for those who like some advanced notice of the confusion to come.

You can, as usual, read into those two images exactly what you want to, but don't start reading until you have completed your submission to Sepia Saturday 152. Now, are you sitting comfortably?