Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: photo studios

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of pick your own (post a photo depicting your favorite theme from the past year) . As my favorite of the year, I'm choosing the theme of pick a particular format (daguerreotype, cabinet card, CDV, real photo postcard, cyanotype, slide, Polaroid, or what have you?) . And among those formats, I'm selecting real photo postcard , as I did previously in March (see Foursome Flying over Long Beach, California, 1914 ). I took a quick look at my postings to the Vintage Photos Theme Park during 2023, and I discovered to my surprise that the majority of my weekly contributions -- more than thirty! -- were real photo postcards . This photo postcard, captioned "One Minute Churn, L. H. Chambers, Cumberland, Md.," shows Lorenzo Hazell Chambers (1877-1958) standing next to a mechanical butter churn . He has a wide grin on his face, and he's resting his left hand on top of the churn. Perhaps Chambers intended to use this card as an advertisement for selling churns (the One-Minute Churn Company solicited sales agents -- see the company's ad below), even though the photo quality is poor and the image seems quite cloudy. This real photo postcard is unused, without any address, message, stamp, or postmark. The Kruxo stamp box design on the other side suggests a possible date that may be as early as 1908 to 1910. Also printed on the verso: "The C. C. Bickert Post Card Co., Hagerstown, Md." The following advertisement for the patented One-Minute Churn appeared in Hardware magazine, April 10, 1905, p. 11. Butter in One Minute The only perfect milk and cream aerator churn in the world, making the best granular butter from sour or sweet cream in a minute -- which we guarantee -- is the One Minute Churn. Protected by 57 patents. Its construction is perfect in every detail. All parts interchangeable and carried in stock. Easy to run, holding 1 quart to 13 gallons. For farm and family use. Our Catalogue tells all. Mention Hardware . Agents wanted. Cable address: "Minute" or "Murphite" New York. I. M. Murphy, president. The One Minute Churn Co., Inc., 9 Old Slip, New York, U.S.A.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tree (in a studio photo) . Caption: "I'll Eat Oranges for You — You Throw Snow Balls for Me." This is a real photo postcard sent sometime after Thanksgiving in 1922 from "Aunt Orpha" in California to "Master George Myers" in Burbank, Ohio. Printed on the other side: "Orange Grove Souvenir. Novelty Studios, 520 S. Broadway & 414 W. 7th, Los Angeles, Cal." Handwritten message: "My dear George. This man is a male nurse. He was in training when I was. We had a turkey dinner [on] Thanksgiving. What did you have? Aunt Ella was with us and your Uncle Tom's niece. By-by. Your Aunt Orpha." The "eat oranges" / "throw snowballs" caption appeared on souvenir photo postcards like this one that tourists in sunny California could send to relatives enduring winter weather back home. For another example, see I'll Eat Oranges for You—You Throw Snowballs for Me .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of photo with decorative border or frame . Printed on the other side of this real photo postcard: "White House Photo Parlor, W. H. Burnham, Prop., 25 Clinton Ave., Cortland, N.Y." A portrait of a young girl with glasses. Her dress has a lacy collar, she has a bow in her hair, and she's wearing a necklace and a lapel watch with chain. The type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on the other side suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918. Compare the oval border of this photo with the one used for Man's Portrait in Elaborate Border .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of beginnings and endings (houses being built or torn down, stores opening or closing, an old year ending or a new one starting, etc.). Date and initials at lower right: "4.9.51. F.S." Printed on the back of this photo: "Photogr. F. Schumann, Pirna ." A snapshot of a young German girl who's holding a Schultüte , or school cone, which she received as a gift on her first day of school as a way to commemorate the beginning of her formal education. For a similar photo taken a few years later, see Girl with Schultüte, 1955 . For more photos, see my Schultüten (School Cones) album.

What is it that's "Better Than Haying," as the caption says? For an explanation, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard.

A fishing photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park topic of knitting, fishing, and kissing (photos of people who are knitting, fishing, or kissing; post examples of all three if you have them.) . "Better Than Haying" is the caption of this real photo postcard by Vermont photographer Edwin T. Houston, who published it in 1906 (take a look at the full version to see Houston's inscription at the bottom of the photo). Just about any activity would be better than "haying," or making hay by hand, which is a laborious chore that usually has to be done on a hot summer day. The farmer in the photo, with his dog by his side, is taking a break from haying by casting his fishing line into the water. The farmer has literally turned his back on his haymaking tools, which are visible on the left-hand side of the photo. We can see the teeth of a rake , the blade of a scythe , and the handle of a third tool, which must be a hay fork with its tines stuck in the ground. So the humorous moral of the story told by this carefully constructed scene is, of course: Fishing is better than haying!

A what a grin photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Written on the front of this real photo postcard: "Hello Enulia, this is me. Harold Andersun" (my best guesses for the spelling of the names). Stamped on the back: "Downers Grove Photo Studio" (which was probably located in Downers Grove, Illinois) . Poor Harold has evidently heard the bad news about Ipernity but is still putting on a brave front (unlike me, who's having a bit of trouble mustering up a smile).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hold it (people holding something) . These three guys are holding guns and a baton as they pose in cowboy and police costumes. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Metropolitan Photo Studio, 645 Sixth Ave., N.Y." The signs in the background are difficult to read. Two of them are: "Brother Jones' Gin Mill." "We use the best chemicals in our distillery."