Shorpy Historical Photo Archive
Nikon F100, Nikkor AF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 D IF, Ilford HP5 Plus
(not a vintage photo, but one of the closest I have taken ;)
Lately I have started following a few vintage photograph blogs. One of them is the Shorpy Historical Photo Archive which features photos taken in the United States mostly between the 1850’s and 1950’s.
The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner born around the turn of the last century. It is amazing to think that it was still a few more decades to go before he would have benefited from the first federal laws regulating minimum age of employment.
The Shorpy images are mostly sourced from the Library of Congress archive. Then the blog webmaster takes up to a few hours per image cleaning them up to have good detail, contrast, etc.
Here are a few of my favorites so far.
- Such is Life taken in 1938: You have to feel for kids with dropped popcorn!
- Coney taken in 1905: Luna Park looked amazing, it’s a shame its original incarnation was destroyed in a pair of fires in 1944.
- Stripes and Solids taken in 1905: Atlantic City beach fashion at its best.
- High Noon taken in 1909: Marquette, Michigan, a slice of small town USA, showing the prevalent public transportation of the time.
- Rufus Rides Again taken in 1864: Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster of the Union armies around Richmond during the Civil War.
I love the look of these older photos, mostly taken via wet or dry plate processes on large format cameras. They have an amazing amount of detail and broad exposure range.
