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Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

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Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#131

Post by Cthulhu_ »

jl6 wrote: post #97

We need to talk about casual acceptance of litter and clutter. Clearly it doesn’t have to be that way.

We don't actually, because it's obvious; people should put trash in the relevant bins, and the local authorities should pay people to clean it up. Online discourse is not action. Look at e.g. Japan that doesn't have a littering problem, because people don't litter and they pay people to clean up the rest.

But as others pointed out, this was before plastics, before the availability of the wide variety of products and services we have today, before chain fast food restaurants. They would have had (waxed) paper and the like, but not to the point where it was so cheap that it would be everywhere.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#132

Post by Double_a_92 »

cmer wrote: post #59

Somewhat unrelated question that I could probably Google, but I figured it's more interesting to hear your take. Why do people on old pictures look like they're from a completely different era? They look like they're from the 1800s. Is it the camera, the clothing or did they actually look slightly different from us? Or perhaps it's just an illusion? Realistically I wouldn't expect humans' appearance to change that mu…

For my eye I think it's mostly the hair style. E.g. there are no women with long open hair. And men have fancy beards and mostly wear a hat.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#133

Post by MattConfluence »

mattlondon wrote: post #92
khazhoux wrote: post #38

Here's a street view for the 6th image (man tipping top-hat) https://goo.gl/maps/Pxh1QRzRgdn5Lrhc6

Curious - I noted the lack of cars and traffic in the old photos. There is none in Street view either! Many times in Street view for London, it is difficult to see the actual street behind the traffic...

That street in particular has been closed for all traffic except buses and trams (and necessary service cars I guess, like the parked van on street view). On [1] you can see Stortingsgata labeled in blue as "kolletivgate" (collective street). As the graphic shows most streets at the very core of the city have been closed to general traffic, the bluish streets are mostly only public transportation and the pinkish streets are mostly pedestrian and bike lanes. Outside the core you see more cars on the roads.

[1] https://gfx.nrk.no/NHMVHfHy9jrQCxlLI_D2tAo9jnkLqfcYXajOAEHna...

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#134

Post by joe-collins »

kristopolous wrote: post #104
jl6 wrote: post #97

We need to talk about casual acceptance of litter and clutter. Clearly it doesn’t have to be that way.

It's not like they lived in a world of takeaway bags with paper cups and disposable cutlery. There was a time when you'd return bottles to the manufacturer and they were seen as responsible for what they chose to manufacture. Somewhere down the line, all of this, 100% of it was placed on the end user - as if the billion dollar company with tens of thousands of employees and control of an international supply chain ha…

Not simply takeaway, but disposable packaging in general.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#135

Post by gspr »

progre wrote: post #76
thaumasiotes wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the major thing remaining that makes them look 19th century is that they're all drowning in cloth; lots of thick layers. Aren't they in Oslo?

Most of these looks like early summer photos though. Temperatures likely around 20C.

The photos are definitely taken at very different times: #23 has flowers in the grass that remind me of summer. #27 has bare trees that say winter or late fall/early spring (and the lack of leaves or snow on the ground snow and relatively light garments of the soldier(?) makes me think early spring). Same for #48 and #55. #44 has parasols, indicating summer.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#136

Post by cm2187 »

jorgesborges wrote: post #5
Normille wrote: post #2

Great find. Thanks for posting. I love it when photos from this era occasionally emerge showing people acting naturally. We're so used to seeing the vast majority of Victorian photographs showing dour-faced people sitting or standing stiffly to attention, that it's sometimes difficult to believe they had human emotions, just like us.

It’s great. I also love video footage from that era as well, capturing the ordinary bustle of the streets. It’s fun when it’s local and you can point to familiar places. One of my favourites is Victoria and Vancouver BC around 1900[0]. [0] https://youtu.be/Jp1qWV5OZec

In fact that's the only interesting photos from old albums (that and people you know). A 100,000th photo from the Eiffel tower will be the least interesting thing you will find (unless it happens to be a landmark that disappeared). But life in the street of Paris in the 60s is really interesting and amusing to contrast to today.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#137

Post by mywacaday »

jorgesborges wrote: post #5
Normille wrote: post #2

Great find. Thanks for posting. I love it when photos from this era occasionally emerge showing people acting naturally. We're so used to seeing the vast majority of Victorian photographs showing dour-faced people sitting or standing stiffly to attention, that it's sometimes difficult to believe they had human emotions, just like us.

It’s great. I also love video footage from that era as well, capturing the ordinary bustle of the streets. It’s fun when it’s local and you can point to familiar places. One of my favourites is Victoria and Vancouver BC around 1900[0]. [0] https://youtu.be/Jp1qWV5OZec

Given how quiet the roads and pavements are in the video and photos does anyone know why the streets were built so wide?

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#138

Post by JSTucker »

frederikvs wrote: post #114
cmer wrote: post #59

Somewhat unrelated question that I could probably Google, but I figured it's more interesting to hear your take. Why do people on old pictures look like they're from a completely different era? They look like they're from the 1800s. Is it the camera, the clothing or did they actually look slightly different from us? Or perhaps it's just an illusion? Realistically I wouldn't expect humans' appearance to change that mu…

I suspect a large part of it is caused by facial expressions and how the people pose. Having your picture taken was very serious business, so no smiles were allowed. Show your most serious, regal pose. If you look at the "Happiest man in China" photo, it doesn't look like an old photo - it looks like a modern photo of somebody dressed up in old time clothes. There is no hard evidence, but many people believe that the…

Another older example of this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_LAUGHING_VIOLINIST...

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#139

Post by MattConfluence »

grishka wrote: post #80

Interesting thing is how I kept subconsciously trying to identify where in St Petersburg each of these was taken — the architecture and overall appearance of Oslo at the time was so similar apparently.

That's a neat observation, the cities do have a similar history.

The medieval town called Oslo burned down in 1624, and a new city was founded on the other side of the bay. It was named Christiania after the monarch Christian. It kept that name until 1925 when they changed it back to the old historical name Oslo.

Some decades later, the Russian monarch Peter would also found a new city, which happened to have his name in it. So these two cities were being constructed at around the same time and taking design and architectural inspirations from the same places I would imagine.

Re: Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)

#140

Post by laputan_machine »

OJFord wrote: post #13
jamiek88 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a balding man with a round head I wish hats other than Baseball caps were acceptable.

As nothing in particular I wish braces were acceptable! They make so much more sense than tightening a belt laterally to defy gravity by friction.

My lecturer for assembly / low level computing used to wear braces, I enjoyed the look (and he certainly didn't seem to care what other people thought). As others have said, where what you want!
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