Well thank goodness International Madness Week is behind us for another year and we can concentrate on order, logic and rationality. And what could be more ordered and logical than this charming child paddling in the sea in some northern sea-side resort, proudly supported by his father whilst a renegade sibling tries to get in on the act. Yes, that is me in that pretty patterned bathing suit.
The theme image for Sepia Saturday 144 features a headless body and provides a perfect example of frames of view joining battle with ordered presentation and coming up with something that has an attraction of its own. If my mother (for it must have been her that wielded the family camera in this 1950 photograph) had been more careful, my brother wouldn't have been decapitated nor my father scalped. If she had planned the shot more carefully, the horizon might not have dipped so precariously and there wouldn't have been such an expanse of North Sea dominating the view. But then the photograph would have been ordinary. It might have made a statement but it wouldn't have asked any questions. And that, would have been boring.
You can fight boredom this weekend by visiting the Sepia Saturday Blog and following the links to convicts, headless bodies and all manner of strange and wonderful images.
A lovely family moment, thanks to your mum's handling of the camera. I can't imagine there are too many boring examples in your collection.
ReplyDeleteWe really should devote a week on Sepia Saturday to boring photos, but just by featuring them they are somehow made interesting
DeleteCan't be Southport this time - the water seems too clear.
ReplyDeleteBridlington, I suspect.
DeleteWe could do with some of that type of critique at our camera club, Alan.
ReplyDeleteI am available - at a price.
DeleteIndeed your father looks like he had been visiting an Indian tribe but fortunately that incident has not been detrimental to his ability to take care of his son.
ReplyDeleteI also notice the picture was taken in the North sea in 1950. At that time we lived on the Dutch North Sea coast. So it may very well be that on that very same day I was playing in the sea right opposite you. You didn't see me by any chance? :)
Good gracious, was that you I was waiving to. Brought together after all these years by the internet.
Delete:-)
Delete1950? In 1950 oceans were just that big expanse of blue on the globe sitting on the teacher's desk. I'm not even sure I associated it with water, much less had any concept of where it might be. A small boy could throw a rock across our widest expanse of water and blue was reserved for the narrow slice of sky above the mountain tops.
ReplyDeleteFor I don't know how many times today, I find myself thinking "I wish I had written that"
DeleteI have to say you don't seem to be enchanted with the sea. My introduction to the sea was in the 1940s when I complained bitterly that it had wetted a very private part of me. No pictures though as my parents never had a camera. Oh and the North Sea is still b..... cold all the time north of Bridlington.
ReplyDeleteI must confess I did become quite fond of the sea as they years and decades sped by.
DeleteNice bathing suit, Alan. Very mod. The theme this week was a lot of fun and generated great posts across the board. Speaking of boring, you could feature boring photos, or people who look bored to death having their photo taken. I've got plenty of the latter in my collection, heaven knows! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree Michael, I think it has been a vintage week this week - and I still have more to visit
DeleteYour mother must have been focused on you and didn't even notice the missing parts of your father and brother. The horizon must be naturally crooked since you are all straight.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't noticed that Kristin, we are all straight whilst the horizon is anything but. I wonder why the water didn't all flow away!
DeleteWe're in good company, Alan! My mother took similar photos of my siblings and I in our childhood.
ReplyDeleteOur mothers must have been post modernists
DeleteThat's a fun little photo with mom fully focused on the center of attention. And look - you still have the same hairdo!
ReplyDeleteBabies should always be the center of the picture!
ReplyDeleteIt has been another interesting week for Sepia Saturday. Thanks for leading us to unexpected places.
All you lost were your toes.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photo. I especially like your father's pose. You look as if you would have preferred being half buried in the sand on that lovely day.
ReplyDeleteNow take it easy on your Mom. In those days very few pictures wee taken as film and development was expensive. As a result people were not terrible adept with cameras. I stick up for your Mom.
ReplyDeleteNow if you had shown more of the scene above your father's head I probably couls have told you if it was Bridlington or not. Seems like rather a lot of sand for Bridlington, even on the South Side. How about Filey?
ReplyDeleteThere is only one clear explanation for this: the sun was in her eyes!!
ReplyDeleteSo, she did the best she could and since we can recognize everyone, I say,
well done!!!
:)~
HUGZ
I agree with Kristin; as in the prompt picture, the subject was the little boy and everything else was of secondary importance.
ReplyDeleteOmigosh Alan, if I had not known the theme, I'd have feared there were grisly deaths in your ancestry.
ReplyDeleteLove that photo.
And the title of the post was quite spectacular.
Dee @ Shakin' the Family Tree
It's The Halifax Gibbet's Fault! It's In Our Genes!
ReplyDeleteI think your mother was focused on taking a photo of you and your father because dad's looking at the camera while brother is looking down. It's difficult to keep a baby focused long enough to snap a pic which may explain why the picture isn't centered. She may have been more focused on getting you to look at the camera. :) This week's theme has helped me to see imperfect photos in a different light. Hopefully I haven't thrown out any photos in the past because I didn't think they were "perfect."
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo! And what an adorable little baby you were!
ReplyDeleteAh! The dipping horizon! I admit I've taken a few photos with that feature included. Especially while we've been on vacation to the coast. But, thankfully, there is Photoshop to fix my flawed horizons. :)
This makes me think of a photo I have that shows three young girls lined up staring at the camera. unfortunately the one girl is only half in the frame. I figured when I found this shot that it was proof of all those statistics that say "families have 2-1/2 children." I think yours might also be proof of some statistic, but I'm not sure what it might be.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo, I always have to laugh at how the English men used to dress when they went to the beach, rolled up trousers and knotted hankies on their heads :).
ReplyDeleteWhat I most enjoy about your posts, Alan, is the way you take a simple snapshot that might otherwise lie at the bottom of a desk drawer, and give it a beautiful frame of words that multiples its dimensions. New dimensions of memory, and time, and wit too, that transform it into a veritable hologram of imagination.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many photos your mom took of you and left your brother almost out of the frame. He's going to be saying "Mum always liked you best!"
ReplyDeleteNancy
The decapitating and the scalping make for an interesting pic...I usually do either on purpose...
ReplyDeleteGreat photo..love your Dads rolled up pants..you must have been a splasher:)
ReplyDelete