Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: props

A detail showing a close-up of the North American newspaper from a real photo postcard. For more information, see the original photo .

A photo of readers (people reading books or magazines) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. (Or people reading newspapers? Hopefully my fellow VPTPers will indulge my topic drift from magazines to newspapers.) A real photo postcard of a young girl holding an issue of the North American newspaper (mouse over the image for a close-up view of the paper —I haven't been able to determine a date or decipher any of the headlines, unfortunately). The girl has a smirk on her face and a pair of pince-nez glasses on her nose as she looks down at her newspaper. I'm not sure what might be in the case that's on the floor next to her chair.

I'm trying to imagine what happened at the photo studio that day. Photographer: Well, ladies, I've just received a couple of interesting new props that we can use in your portrait today. There's one here and another one over there. Do you prefer the former or the latter? Ladies: Oh, we'll take the ladder , of course! Otherwise, there are no identifying details that might help to explain the origin of this unique photo.

A close-up of a faceless family foursome on a nineteenth-century CDV. See also the full photo .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of flawed memories (photos that are damaged, faded, or have other imperfections, especially ones in which the flaws somehow enhance the image; this includes photos with defective processing, light leakage, and double exposures) . A spooky CDV with an unidentified faceless family. Perhaps their faces were somewhat washed out in the original photo, but they may also have been intentionally rubbed out afterwards. Take a gander at a cropped version of the CDV for a closer look at the family's faint facial features. For another faceless photo, see Who's the Dummy Now?

It must have been windy in the studio to produce such a blurry image of the flags! Although the words "roller bearing" appear on the side of the wagon, I haven't been able to identify what brand it might be.

"J. C. Stodart, Margate." In this CDV, a boy looks somewhat uncomfortable as he perches on a studio version of the top of a sailing ship's mast. I'm not sure why a mast mockup like this was used as a studio prop, but perhaps it was popular in a seaside resort town like Margate , Kent. In any case, similar depictions of boys on masts appeared on advertising trade cards, postcards, and other media in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A curious photographer props (huge urns or plants, strange objects, taxidermy animals, etc.) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "E. M. Criswell, Grand Meadow, Minn. Extra finish." A tall bearded fellow--his appearance reminds me of Rasputin , the Russian mystic and confidant to Tsar Nicholas II--stands in front of a painted backdrop and next to an oddly shaped prop as he poses for this cabinet card photo. Is that enigmatic object supposed to look like natural or carved stone? If not, I'm not certain what it's intended to represent.

This woman posed with Amish husband-and-wife figures at Dutch Wonderland , an amusement park located in the "Amish Country" tourist area in eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For additional vintage photos of this amusement park, see the View-Master World blog, which features a Dutch Wonderland (A634) set of View-Master images (scroll down to "Scene 09, Dutch Farm House" to see this same Amish couple from a different angle). See also Visit Dutch Wonderland, Lancaster, Pa.

"Solo Match. Made in Austria."