Sepia Saturday 288 : 18 July 2015

Nobody could ever accuse Sepia Saturday of failing to challenge its followers. It would be so easy to give you an old photograph of a hat and suggest that the theme for Sepia Saturday 288 was "hats" and all you needed to do was to seek out any old photos featuring hats. But hats are easy and here on Sepia Saturday we don't do easy. So prompted by a photo we found on the Flickr Commons collection of the National Library of Ireland, we found ourselves thinking "we've never had pigs before". So pigs it is, or possibly butchers, or shops, or men in aprons .... or hats (well, pigskin hats). Whatever you choose to go with (and there is always the option if you are a craven coward to ignore any theme and just give us any old photograph), all you have to do is to post a post on or around Saturday 18th July 2015 and add a link to the list below.

Before you go looking for a pig in a poke you might want to take a look at what is to come in the weeks ahead.

That's what I like to see - a couple of weeks at the seaside before rushing back in front of the television for the start of the new football season. But forget all those future joys, it is time to bring home the bacon for Sepia Saturday 288.

Sepia Saturday 287 : 11 July 2015

A natural response to having a camera pointed in your direction is to smile. It has been drilled deep into our collective psyche over the years that we should "watch the birdie" and "smile". I am not sure when this habit developed - if you look at some of the earliest photographs, there is no trace of a smile on the faces of the Victorian and Edwardian sitters. But for the best part of 100 years, photographs have meant smiling faces: and if you get a group of sitters (or standers) crowded into a photograph, you can more or less bet good money on a smile breaking out somewhere. Our theme image for Sepia Saturday 287 (post your posts on or around Saturday 11th July 2015) shows a group of students - but there is hardly a trace of a smile between them. As far as potential themes are concerned, you might want to go with group photographs, students, or smiles or the lack of them - as usual, the choice is yours. Just post a post and then link it to the list below.

Before you dash off in search of miserable faces, cheer yourself up by taking a quick look at what happy themes are around the Sepia Saturday corner.

That is all for the future. For the time being, just stand still, compose yourself, and smile.

Sepia Saturday 286 : 4th July 2015

The Smithsonian Museum is the United States National Museum and therefore it is appropriate for Sepia Saturday 286 which falls on the 4th July to feature an illustration from their archives. This call is going up early because I am about to head off to Scarborough - one of the finest holiday and fishing resorts on the Yorkshire coast and therefore it is appropriate for the Smithsonian illustration to be that of a fish. And just in case you are about to tell me that we have had fish as theme images on Sepia Saturday several times before, be warned that I can get quite snappy when provoked and therefore it is appropriate that the fish in question a spot snapper. If you want to be thoroughly appropriate for Sepia Saturday 286 all you have to do is to post your posts on or around Saturday 4th July and add a link to the list below. 

Before you cast around for a suitable image, take a look at what is further down the Sepia Saturday line.

Hope you like all these potential themes - if you do, don't forget to tell me. But, on second thoughts, don't bother as I am merely fishing for compliments.

Sepia Saturday 285 : 27 June 2015

I'm in a bit of a rush this week as I forgot to put the call post up whilst we were away and now it is Thursday and Sepia Saturday is just around the corner. I blame too many nights away from home drinking old beer in even older hotels. The hotel in our theme image is never around the corner (or always around the corner) depending on how you look at things. It is an old postcard of the Chittenden Hotel in Columbus Ohio and put me in mind of postcards, hotels, buildings and - of course - corners. Whatever it puts you in mind of, just post your post on or around Saturday 27th June 2015 and add a link to the list below.

Before you book into the Sepia Saturday Hotel, take a look at what --- is around the corner.

Fish, pigs and students - who else other than Sepia Saturday gives you variety like this? So book into the Sepia Saturday Hotel now.

Sepia Saturday 284 : 20th June 2015

I am away on holiday for a couple of weeks but hopefully the weekly Sepia prompts will continue to appear, thanks to a little pre-planning and the wonders of wifi. Who knows, I might even write a letter home describing my adventures (note to self - don't forget to pack the typewriter). Our prompt this week couldn't be more self-explanatory if you were to type it out in capital letters. If you have any old pictures that relates to the theme image, just post your posts on or around Saturday 20th June 2015 and link to the list below. And here is a preview of what is on the next page or two (or three) of the great Sepia Saturday novel.

After all that, words simply fail me. And if they fail you, you can always let your images do the talking.

Sepia Saturday 283 : 13 June 2015

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week shows a group of construction workers celebrating the completion of a railway tunnel on the Irish rail network. It might prompt you to dig into your own photographic archives and come up with photographs of tunnels, construction projects, or dates carved into the stonework. It might also prompt you to share some other image which you feel is connected in one way or another to the theme image. All you have to do is to post your post on or around Saturday 13th June and then link your post to the list below. But before you start the sepia project, take a look at what is around the next bend in the lines.

But for now just concentrate on Sepia Saturday 283 and before too long I am sure you will see a sepia light at the end of the tunnel.

Sepia Saturday 282 : 6 June 2015

Welcome to Sepia Saturday 282 - post your posts on or around Saturday 6th June 2015. You might need to give a good deal of thought this week to the theme image before making your move and posting your post (and then, of course, adding a link to the list below). The man in the photograph is a famous musician, so you can put the games away and get the concertina out if you so wish. Whatever you decide to go with it will be a gambit we all look forward to examining.

But before you make your first move, here is what lies ahead in the game over the next few weeks.

But it is now time to make your opening move on the great sepia chess board. Good luck.