Norwegian Student Takes Secret Street Photos In The 1890s • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by taneq » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 12:58 AM UTC

megy wrote: post #80

taneq wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed that no one seems to think it's creepy. Go around taking covert photos of strangers these days and see how people react...

It is in public. And if you sneakily take a photo of someone, how would they know to react? On top of that, there are cameras everywhere in public taking covert photos of everyone, I haven't seen anyone react to it.

They're portraits, not wide angle crowd shots (and yes, the law distinguishes between the two, for privacy and copyright purposes). And the people reacting are the ones you told that you were taking sneaky photos, not the subjects of the photos (although if they did pick it, they also might not be pleased - FTFA: "This is physics professor Kristian Birkeland - the only one of Størmer's subjects to rumble him. Apparently he got quite cross!").

Try taking a bunch of covert photos then showing your friends: "Hey look at these photos I took of people with my spy cam!" I guarantee the reaction won't be entirely positive.

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

#82

Post by hobls » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 1:55 AM UTC

dibujante wrote: post #57

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

Wait, this is wildly off topic, but can we talk about the snow woman in the sixth picture? What is happening there? Is that a person covered in snow? A really shockingly well crafted sculpture done by two women with shovels? I am so baffled.

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

#83

Post by ekianjo » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 2:00 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #55

These photos are a treasure. It's remarkable how elegantly dressed everyone was, even the children.

They are elegant because they are probably from the local bourgeoisie. Go out of the city center and I would bet clothes would look way worse than that. It was probably a minority who could afford to dress like that.

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

#84

Post by agoodthrowaway » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 2:33 AM UTC

Is it me or was his original motivation to take a photo of a woman he was sweet on without her knowing kind of creepy?

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

#85

Post by drzaiusapelord » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 4:16 AM UTC

JasonFruit wrote: post #39

There are 33 photos from him at https://imgur.com/a/Eplvs . Several look as though the subject is aware of the camera, and at least a couple don't look pleased about it.

Thank you for this. All the smart-ass comments on the other site linked was really starting to ruin this for me. There's this wonderful beauty on display here and the response on the boredpanda site is low effort stupid jokes? Come on.

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

#86

Post by d3sandoval » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 5:26 AM UTC

Clicked the article thinking maybe a Norwegian Google Streetview competitor had invented time travel... Was still worth the read! Was not disappointed.

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

#87

Post by ForFreedom » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 6:18 AM UTC

Did not know they could take pics with quick shutter speeds, theres barely any blur in movement.

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

#88

Post by executesorder66 » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 6:25 AM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #59

I wish people still wore suits all the time

I find them very uncomfortable, ugly, and overpriced. I would be very happy if suits would rot in the dustbins of history. I guess everyone has different tastes.

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

#89

Post by cjmoran » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 7:27 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #83

WalterBright wrote: post #55

These photos are a treasure. It's remarkable how elegantly dressed everyone was, even the children.

They are elegant because they are probably from the local bourgeoisie. Go out of the city center and I would bet clothes would look way worse than that. It was probably a minority who could afford to dress like that.

Or who could afford a $15 camera like that. ($400 in today's money based on another comment)

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

#90

Post by daveFNbuck » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 7:34 AM UTC

woodpanel wrote: post #32

fyfy18 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same. I wonder if he knew them or they are strangers. I grew up in a village and if you saw someone, even if you didn't know them (although you knew most people), you'd say hello, but it's strange to imagine that happening in a city today.

Looking at the pictures it seems that they were taken exactly in the moment of greeting the photographer (People with their hands on hats...). The way the function of the camera is described, using the gestures of greeting someone may have nicely helped in keeping his camera a secret. Also: Indeed, very nice to see people smiling in that time! I wonder how much the grim-looking portraits we know add to the cliche of…

It was always my understanding that people didn't smile in older photos because it's easier to hold a neutral pose for a long exposure period.