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CDV, Two Well Dressed Ladies, Civil War Era, or a bit beyond==And Another same photographer,

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    Posted 8 years ago

    PostCardCo…
    (437 items)

    Two sweet ladies dressed up for their photo, in Port Huron, Michigan and no smiles for the camera. Times may have contributed to the sobersides--if they had kin in the war. The first photo is taken by same photographer, and you'll note-- no backdrop or much for the sake of ambience was used! Why so DRAB!!
    Prior to the Civil War, Port Huron served as an important terminus of the Underground Railroad.During the Civil War era, Port Huron was largely involved in the Underground Railroad as a final stop before the Canadian border. Perhaps its most significant historical achievement was becoming the world’s first international railroad tunnel between Port Huron and Canada

    Sometimes only my first photo will show up enlarged..

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    Comments

    1. jscott0363 jscott0363, 8 years ago
      Oh, these photos are really wonderful!! It seems that nobody smiled in any of the old photos from that period thru the early 1900's. I've always wondered why.
    2. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      So do i
    3. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      Guess it took that long for everybody to realize that both sides lost the War.
    4. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      The reason there are typucally no smiles is because exposure times were many seconds. Smiles started appearing frequently when instantaneous exposures (less than 1 second) became the norm.
    5. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      ThAnks for that!
    6. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      People can only hold a smile for less than a second for photos ? Yeah ! About right.
    7. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Yep ... since the early years of photography, keeping rock-still was a huge challenge. The challenge with smiles is holding all facial features steady; mouth, cheeks, eyes and so forth. The slightest movement, even the smallest tremor or twitch, creates a blur. Photographers would then end up wasting materials that cost them money because the images were unacceptable.
    8. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      Except for blinking I just tried and I can hold a smile a really long time-- now I wonder is something peculiar about me ( ahhhh, well--we already know the answer...! )
    9. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Hi PCC ... Yep ... I understand what you're thinking; however, most everyone thinks they can hold a rock-steady pose. And this is a really good discussion and something often observed and asked.

      In reality it's very difficult even when using furniture with posing braces. Additionally, these are large format studio cameras making the pictures. They reveal every tiny flaw (twitch, flinch, blink, and involuntary movement). I was a practicing photographer years ago and still do a lot of non-pro photography today. Granted it's digital these days but the concepts still apply.

      Having shot pictures with 1880s to early 1900s equipment from my collection (including development and printing), I've never had a long exposure 'smiling' picture turn out correctly even when using modern sheet film materials instead of plates. Also, long multi-second exposures done in the timeline of your pictures were usually managed by lens cap (not a shutter). The action of removing and replacing a lens cap is distracting to the subject and a contributing reason why smiling facial portraits are so difficult. Granted, there are probably people who can hold a long smiling pose but, as I noted, photographers would end up wasting a lot of time, materials and chemistry to get one good picture.
    10. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      I can hold a smile a real long time, but I think it's called dementia.
    11. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Ohh ... and one other thing to consider aside from my replies. Culturally, and I'm just speculating here, smiling in pictures might not have been a normal thing to do. Kind of like classical painting ... how many early (pre-1900) portraits have smiling subjects? Could be an interesting bit of research.
    12. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      I'm going to look tonight--if anyone smiles pre-1900, I'll post it. Fun idea, and will be interesting too! Cheers! Lois
    13. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      Rniederman...l posted a cdv smile today. A. Big one go see!
    14. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      NevadaBlades.
      martika
      Peasejean55
      TassieDevil
      Alan2310
      btrue
      jscott0363
      Efesgirl
      You are all just the BEST!!
    15. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      I added Picture #4---That elusive "SMILING" guy!
    16. PostCardCollector PostCardCollector, 8 years ago
      Thank you Kyratango.

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