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Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

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Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#51

Post by rrauenza »

rrauenza wrote: post #29

Here's a little more on the camera: https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/08/16/alexiadis-vest-pocket... The photographer would wear the 6-inch diameter chrome camera under his vest. The lens would poke out a buttonhole, and the shutter could be tripped by pulling a cord. The camera could shoot six images on a circular dry plate; the photographer would advance the plate by patting his chest to activate a lever. [...] The…

And more ... with a nice photo of it:

https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/detective-camera-s...

Disc shaped and all metal in construction, at first glance the camera resembles a cross between a frisbee and a hip flask. Thin enough to be worn unobtrusively beneath an ordinary waistcoat, it hung from the photographer’s neck on a strap. The f10, fixed-aperture lens poked through a buttonhole of the waistcoat and, as a further aid to concealment, was designed to look like a button.

Exposures were made on a circular glass plate that was rotated after each exposure by turning a knob protruding from the front of the camera. Six photographs, 40mm in diameter, could be taken on each plate. Rotating the knob also set the rotary shutter, which was released by pulling on a length of string which dangled from the bottom the camera.

Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#52

Post by criddell »

maxxxxx wrote: post #17
maho wrote: post #12

Whenever I see pictures from the pre-WW1-era I marvel at the shoes people wore back then. From the outside they appear comfortable, sturdy, and elegant. I wonder which would be more comfortable to wear -- hand-made, customized shoes from a 1900's-inspired, experienced shoemaker, or modern, mass-produced sneakers (which are pretty comfortable to begin with).

I don't know how the 1900 shoes but I much prefer good leather shoes over sneakers.

I'm the exact opposite. I often work at a standing desk and I can last a lot longer standing in sneakers than leather shoes.

The big reason though is that I'd much rather have 4 pairs of $100 sneakers than one pair of $400 leather shoes. I get bored of wearing the same shoes and being able to frequently swap them out for new ones is part of the appeal.

Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#53

Post by nerfhammer »

matte_black wrote: post #33
dangerboysteve wrote: post #4

It's actually nice to see people smiling in these old photos. Something that was absent in posed photos of those days.

In old days, smiling in a photograph would be considered ridiculous. There would be nothing worse than having one’s image forever captured with a goofy toothy looking grin.

It's not just the lack of smiling. It's that they were stiff as a board, staring expressionlessly out into space, looking lifeless, taxidermic.

The candidness of these photos is interesting because the people look so natural. It's not just the smiling, it's the casual, natural looking poses and expressions, only about half of which are actually smiling. They look actual real life people so to speak.

Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#54

Post by nerfhammer »

gshakir wrote: post #44
dangerboysteve wrote: post #4

It's actually nice to see people smiling in these old photos. Something that was absent in posed photos of those days.

Lots of people had bad teeth and they did not want it to show up in the pictures.

Photos of this quality weren't sharp enough to make out any detail on any of these people's teeth.

I wonder if they assumed that they should try to look as they would for a painted portrait.

Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#57

Post by dibujante »

dangerboysteve wrote: post #4

It's actually nice to see people smiling in these old photos. Something that was absent in posed photos of those days.

It was because photos required long exposure and it's easier to hold your face in a neutral position. People smiled then as they do now: https://imgur.com/gallery/EYOym

Re: Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s

#58

Post by icdedppl »

nerfhammer wrote: post #53
matte_black wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In old days, smiling in a photograph would be considered ridiculous. There would be nothing worse than having one’s image forever captured with a goofy toothy looking grin.

It's not just the lack of smiling. It's that they were stiff as a board, staring expressionlessly out into space, looking lifeless, taxidermic. The candidness of these photos is interesting because the people look so natural. It's not just the smiling, it's the casual, natural looking poses and expressions, only about half of which are actually smiling. They look actual real life people so to speak.

Some of those lifeless-looking people are actually lifeless: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography
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