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  • Your opinion on this photo please

    Sorry I'm posting this and running but I'd like your thoughts on this photo please. Possible year/ages and I'd like to ask if you find anything odd about it.
    Will be back in the morning so please don't think I'm ignoring you


  • #2
    I would say the woman in black has been super imposed....and she has her eyes closed and both me and my other half think she looks deceased! there is something about the photo that just doesn't look right, but I can't quite put my finger on it! 1880's?

    Comment


    • #3
      I agree with Lisa, and that was BEFORE I read her reply!

      There is something not right with this picture and onbe or other has been superimposed - what IS that blob of stuff emerging from under the child's bodice?!

      OC

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      • #4
        Don't worry OC, the blob is only a tear (as in rip!) on the surface of the photo!

        I also immediately thought the woman looked 'late' The angle of her head is a little odd.

        But perhaps she just blinked at the wrong moment.

        Anne

        Comment


        • #5
          I'd have thought it would have been very difficult to superimpose the one on the other, as the figures are holding hands.

          Christine
          Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

          Comment


          • #6
            I think it's a post mortem photo, the lady is deceased.............

            she is on a stand I think....

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            • #7
              They are holding hands in a very odd way, though! However, I think it's the woman's face which has been superimposed, not her whole body.

              For a professional photo this is rather poor really, the woman with her eyes closed - photographer should have taken another shot.

              OC

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              • #8
                A lot of the "oddities" might be due to the very long exposure required. It wsn't unusual for the sitter to have their head clamped from behind to keep them still. Perhaps they could only afford one "go". Glass plate negatives were pretty pricey perhaps.
                Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                • #9
                  Looks original to me, the little girl aged about 10/11 with older lady about about 60 or a little less.
                  Photo date 1880/5, a photo with a long exposure time like this one the objects would have to remain still, my guess is the older lady is Blind and could be the reason why her eye are closed.
                  If you know the name of her you could find that out on the Census.

                  Steve.
                  Steve.
                  Researching;Fitzjohn:Crouch:Parker:Howlett ;)

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                  • #10
                    My other reasons for thinking the lady was deceased - look at her jaw line, the sagging of the jaw looks wrong and also her hands. They aren't holding hands, the girl is holding the lady's hand, but they are not holding hands together. Her left hand also looks wrong. I have just shown it to 2 people in my office and they both think the same! I don't think it was that unusual to have a post mortem photo in Victorian times.

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                    • #11
                      i have to say, she does look dead. and my god is that a creepy thing! i cant imagine having a photo taken with a dead person! ive heard of photo's taken of the dead before, but not with living people. it was in the others with nicole kidman i believe that i first heard of it.

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                      • #12
                        Anne

                        Phew, that's a relief, for a moment there I thought I was witnessing a Rising of the Lights, lol.

                        The other thing - the girl is looking at the camera, the woman is not (even if she had her eyes open).

                        It really is gruesome, if it is a posed memento mori - and we would call this child abuse today!!

                        OC

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                        • #13
                          Just Barbara wrote an article which mentions this very thing in the latest FTF magazine:

                          Death and the Victorians
                          Caroline
                          Caroline's Family History Pages
                          Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

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                          • #14
                            Many thanks for all your thoughts, at first I thought it was the little girl that was dead (very dark shadows around her eyes and the way her hands fell) but reading a bit more about such photos I think it is the older lady who is dead (the eyes can't be seen, the arms seem very stiff and the hands don't seem to fall right in her lap).
                            I know very little about either person at the moment as I only received the photo last night, I know the lady's name but as I have two people of the same name in my tree I'm not sure which one she is. Lots of questions for the kind people that sent the photo - but not a photo I would like to display anywhere, that's for sure!
                            Nearly forgot to say thanks for the link Caroline

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                            • #15
                              I agree with Fitzjohn - I don't think she's dead, I think she's blind. It reminds me of photos taken of my great-aunt who was also blind (caused by measles apparently). I also think the way they are holding hands is down to the long exposure time - perhaps the child didn't like having her had "gripped" for too long!

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                              • #16
                                After doing the article I would love to possess the photo! I think if you look at the right hand side of her neck you can see what might be part of the stand...

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                                • #17
                                  I thought the only post mortem photos in the UK were generally of dead babies, posed to look 'asleep'. Had no idea they photographed the dead with the living, and not sure they would? But it was a boringly normal occurence in 'the Wild West' - all them photos of dead gunslingers propped against walls, etc. Not sure it would happen here, though? Either way it's a creepy photo.

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                                  • #18
                                    Originally posted by Penelope View Post
                                    I thought the only post mortem photos in the UK were generally of dead babies, posed to look 'asleep'. Had no idea they photographed the dead with the living, and not sure they would? But it was a boringly normal occurrence in 'the Wild West' - all them photos of dead gunslingers propped against walls, etc. Not sure it would happen here, though? Either way it's a creepy photo.
                                    Taking photos of deceased loved ones with their living relatives was more common than we think. I have several links to these sites but they are too upsetting to post them on an open board. I have sent them to Trish. They were very popular in North America in Victorian times & some involved placing the deceased on stands & propping them up, even propping their eyes open or closing their lids & painting fake eyes on them

                                    Sorry if anyone finds this upsetting, if you google memento mori you will see quite a few but be warned, the images (particularly of children & babies) can be very unnerving.

                                    Joanie

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                                    • #19
                                      I am not so sure that she would be blind as she is wearing clear glasses

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                                      • #20
                                        The older lady does look odd - but she's sitting up

                                        I can imagine taking pictures of someone in their coffin, but how would you do someone sitting I'm having visions of arranging the corpse and waiting for rigor mortis to set in!!

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