With the harsh, stern expression on this man’s face and the shabby effects of aging on the photograph, this vintage picture has a rather spooky feeling.
Stern Man Shabby Vintage Photo
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Julie is a vintage enthusiast and a Photoshop addict who collects old books and new recipes.
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A very serious, sober expression was typical of the culture at the time, but in this poor fellow’s case, his eyes are also damaged, especially the eye in shadow. I looked this up and it probably indicates some trauma to the eye – maybe he was mugged?
Hi Sharon,
I thought perhaps his eye looked damaged because of the way the picture has aged, almost a moldy effect. I certainly hope he wasn’t mugged.
Julie
Julie, I too love to imagine stories to go with old photos. This old fella is a good one for that. Most of the mug shots I’ve seen on Smoking Gun are cheery, compared to him.
Does he belong to you? * smile *
I’m really into genealogy, so I couldn’t resist asking…
He doesn’t, Loretta, but I have some old family photos in my collection that elderly, distant family members shared with me when I was actively researching genealogy a few years back. I may share some of those photos one day.
Thanks for the photo. It looks like this gentleman had a hard life.
Perhaps this is the only photo he possessed as he may have been poor.
You’re right Tania, he may have been poor and this might have been his only photo. When I was getting this picture ready to post, I wondered if his adult children strongly encouraged him to get a photograph taken and he agreed, even though he wasn’t happy about it. We’ll never know but it’s interesting to wonder what his situation may have been – and I wonder the same (what was their story) about every person in the old photographs,
It really is amazing how little they smiled in photo’s back then, I heard somewhere it was because it took so long to take the picture
Smiling is a modern conceit! Sobriety was their ‘virtue signaling’. You will sooner get a Calvinist to laugh out loud than smile. A smile makes one look “trifling” – insincere and inconsequential. Even depictions of pretty girls are very discreet as to smiling – that smile could be construed unpleasantly for her.
Connie, I’ve also heard that it took a while for the exposure to happen and the subjects had to hold as still as possible while they were posing for a photo to be taken.