Sincerely Yours

We're all familiar with the interest in getting the autographs of famous people on their photos... as far as I know people still do it, even in the digital age. However, how many of us have signed photos of our friends? Signing photos for friends and family used to be fairly common, especially when parting ways with people you might not see again for a while (there are lots from fellows who met in the service!). It's such a lovely personal touch.... I think I might do some for my far away friends!

"To my friend, Lou Gordon," from a fellow whose signature I can't decipher, 1920s. Source

Australian National Maritime Museum

"Yours Truly, Fred Ward," ca. 1915. Source

Australian National Maritime Museum

"All best wishes from an old friend/ Jack Kirkwood," 1917. Source

Double Exposed

The days of the accidental double exposure are nearly over. Digital and self-winding cameras have made pretty sure of that. Once upon a time, though, you had to remember to wind the film, or exchange the large-format negative, and of course it's so awfully easy to forget to do that. The results, luckily, are often so awfully interesting. Ordinary photographs are turned surreal through superimposition. Figures become ghosts. Each exposure captures only the scene in front of it, yet the picture created is a scene that was never in front of anyone. 

Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Amadeo and Lucie de Souza Cardoso, 1915. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane 

Double exposure with a 90 degree turn. Norway, ca. 1900-1910. Source

Library of Congress

An exterior and interior together, Virginia, 1935. Source