Road Tripping 1960s Norway

A delightful set of photo postcards made in Norway in the 1960s. Wonderfully, nearly all the cards in the set include a cheerful red car (of various makes), merrily making its way through the Norwegian countryside. The postcards thus evoke a series of personal snapshots of one person's road-trip (better snapshots than anyone could actually take!). Of course, in a sense, they are: the car(s) belonged to the photographer. 

Since the photos' captions are only in Norwegian, which I don't speak, I've pasted them in full, so as not to mix up place names and descriptions. 

Nasjonalbiblioteket / National Library of Norway

Lillehammer. Source

Nasjonalbiblioteket / National Library of Norway

Tvindefoss. Ruten Voss - Stalheim - Gudvangen. Source

Nasjonalbiblioteket / National Library of Norway

Vik i Sogn. I bakgrunnen Hella og Fjærlandsfjord. Source

Sweden, Tinted

Hand-tinted postcards are generally associated with the early decades of the 20th century. By the middle of the century, colour photomechanical printing had mostly taken over. 

I was thus delighted to find these hand-tinted postcards from Sweden in the 1950s, published by the Swedish postcard company Almquist and Cöster. The modern clothes and cars contrast with the old-school selective stencil tinting in such a striking way.

Swedish National Heritage Board

The Square in Haparanda. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

The bar at Skrea beach in Falkenberg. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

The camping ground at Skrea beach in Falkenberg. Source

Skiing in Norway

Photographs of people skiing in Norway in the 1910s and 1920s, taken by Kristian Berge, the same amateur photographer whose landscape photographs were featured in this post. 

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

Skiers ready to set out, ca. 1918-1920. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

Skiers taking a rest, 1924. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

A cross-country ski race, 1924. Source

Early 20th Century Views of Norway

Beautiful photographs of Norway taken in the 1910s and 1920s by the very talented amateur photographer Kristian Berge, an engineer in his day job. More of his work can be seen here.

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane 

The Oppstrynsvatnet lake, 1922. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane 

Ålesund harbour, 1922. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane 

Utvær, 1913. Source

Iceland in Former Days

With all the incredible institutions on the Flickr Commons, it's easy to overlook some of the smaller ones. Luckily, this means that it's also easy to dip in and find all sorts of new stuff every time. Today's example is the Reykjavik Museum of Photography (Myndavefur Ljósmyndasafnsins in Icelandic), with a small but striking collection of pictures of Iceland in the early 20th century. Some very striking photographs of a striking country. 

Despite all the information in the captions being bilingual, the actual titles are only in Icelandic for the most part. I've followed the lead a dear follower took on an earlier Icelandic caption here and put them into Google Translate... then tried to figure out what that mess of words actually means. If anyone speaks Icelandic, do share! 

Pictures all from glass plate negatives by photographer Magnús Ólafsson, about whom no more information is given, unfortunately. 

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

Geyser, 1900-1920. Source

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

A sheep in front of a sod barn, 1902. Source

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

Children playing on the ice, 1910-1915. Source

Snapshots of 1937

Though colour photography was around since the 1900s and 10s, it wasn't until the late 1930s that it became available in a practical film format This collection from the National Archives of Norway represents some of the earliest amateur colour snapshots, taken by Norwegian Thomas Neumann in 1937. We all have heaps of these kinds of snapshots from the 60s and 70s.... here's the start of all that, in the 30s!

Mostly taken in Norway and a couple in Berlin.

National Archives of Norway

Source

National Archives of Norway

 Source

National Archives of Norway

Source

Snow in Stockholm

Lovely winter shots from a lovely winter Stockholm (and area), c. 1890.

Mosebacke and southern Stockholm. Source

Statue at House of Nobility, Gamla Stan, Stockholm. Source

Solna Church, Uppland, Sweden. [all right, not Stockholm, but it fits]. Source

Another of Solna Church, Uppland, Sweden. Source

Trees and statue of Carl Linnaeus in Humlegården park, Stockholm. Source

Winter in Humlegården, Stockholm. Source

Djurgården park, Stockholm. Source

Kungsträdgården, Stockholm. Source

People in snow, Stockholm. Source

Winter woods, in/near Stockholm. Source

Djurgården park, Stockholm. Source

Winter woods in/near Stockholm. Source

 Uggleviken Forest at Northern Djurgården, Stockholm. Source

Sweden in Blue

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process where the image is created not by silver, but by iron, resulting in a strong blue tint. While the process was invented in the 1840s, it was most popular at the end of the 19th century and early 20th. Since it's cheap and easy, it appealed especially to amateurs who could develop their own snapshots at home. 

 This set of cyanotypes comes from Swedish physician and amateur photographer Carl Curman (1833-1913), beautiful blue views of the country and its people at the end of the 20th century.  

Swedish National Heritage Board

Horse-drawn trams in Stockholm, 1900. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Trollhättan Falls, 1888. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Stockholm, 1900. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Three women in the grass, 1880s. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Villa of the author Viktor Rydberg, Djursholm, Uppland. c. 1890. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Tegelbacken, Stockholm, c. 1900. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Men's bath (left) and the Curman villa (centre), Lysekil, 1875. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Seaside restaurant in Lysekil, 1880. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Trollhättan Falls. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

At villa Bergshyddan, c. 1890. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Carolina Curman, mother of the photographer, c. 1885. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Calla Curman, the photographer's wife, with a guitar, 1880s. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Man and a boy in Lysekil, c. 1890. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

People in a garden, c.1890. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Seven men, Lysekil. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

People indoors, c. 1880. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Fishermen in Lysekil, 1860s. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

A young woman sitting, c. 1890. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Three women and a child, 1880s. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

Trollhättan Falls. Source

Swedish National Heritage Board

View of Stockholm from the Katarina lift (Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is to the left, if you know the city). Source