Vintage Monday: Fancy Pants

Don't these guys look like a collection of classic Bond villains? Especially the blond one. I remember the flared trouser legs from that era, but I've forgotten the high collars.

Vintage Monday: Tussle

These guys are supposed to be wrestlers but they seem more like having a roll in the hay.

Vintage Monday: Color

Black and white photographs hold up impressively well over time. Color not so much. They tend to fade and shift colors, especially the ones from the early days of this process. The chemicals making them possible weren't as stable as the silver of BW photos.

Above is a picture probably from the fifties or sixties. Original on the left, and Photoshop manipulated version on the right--less muddy, but still far from perfect.

Vintage Men: Men in Uniform

Four soldiers circa WWI.

Vintage Monday: Sleepover

Gotta love old ads. Nowadays you wouldn't see one like this, unless if it was specifically aimed for a gay audience. Make me wonder how much of the homoeroticism of the old ads was intentional.

Monday Men: Winter

This is the only suitably seasonal photo I have, and it's not very good. The snow is all blown out and  two kinds of blurs are obscuring the men's features. But that's the magic of these photos--the person who had it in his album didn't need a clear image, only enough detail to jog his memory. Looking at this fuzzy picture he remembered how one guy's laugh sounded and how crisp and cold the air was and even how he felt that day. Snapshots, more than anything, are dependent on viewer participation.

Monday Men: Out For A Ride

I prefer amateur shot to studio portraits, but these two gents are more relaxed than the subject of these photos usually are.

Monday Men: Three by the Water

When I buy old photos, I usually sort through a whole box of images randomly thrown together. I pick the few I do because something about them grabs my interest. In this case it was the guy on the right. I imagine him to be a man with a booming voice, big appetite, and a laugh loud enough to scare pigeons.

Monday Men: Welcome Home

I'm full of questions. Welcome home from where? When? Where are we, Britain or Australia?

On the back of the photo they are identified as Loyde and Harold. Am I the only one immediately thinking of Harold Lloyd or am I simply old to even know his name.

These chaps look like the could be one of Bertie Wooster's pea-brained friends. Am I dating myself again?

Monday Men: Men of Winter

I love these guys with their identical nerd-glasses. There is an inscription on the back: