Sepia Saturday 223;12 April 2014


Alan from Sepia Saturday says:


Why have one photograph when you can have a group of four? You are, of course, free to interpret this week's prompt photograph in whichever way you want, but one possible approach would be a grouping of four old photographs. There are other potential interpretations within this 1919 group of Smithton, Tasmania - indeed there are probably four times as many possible themes as normal. The original image comes from the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office collection on Flickr Commons. Whatever your interpretation, just post your post on or around Saturday 12 April 2014 

What to do?  Be completely egocentric...yes, that's entertaining.....well, I hope so....

Me in Edinburgh.......we were living in rented accommodation at the time.  No personal effects really.  Just the clothes we stood up in, as it were...I'm wearing jodhpurs (my Mother had a thing for jodhpurs) and little riding boots.  We were nowhere near horses I might add.  But sturdy attire for an energetic toddler I imagine. Isn't the spelling of jodhpurs interesting?  Where does it come from I wonder....

Edinburgh c. 1963

And about five years later at 3 Nungara Street, Canberra.




Obviously I am an only child with a doting parent or two who had the time and the leisure to take the photos.

Please note the white lace stockings....they were de rigeur in the 60s.  My mother would have made that dress out of viyella.  Do you remember viyella?  I think it is smocked too.  She was a great seamstress.  And the cat is one of three we had at the time...good old Yum Yum.  I do like a good black cat.

We were living in our own house by then.  My father designed it.  I had my own bedroom with built-in desk and bookcase - completely spoiled and very lucky.  Gran gave us her old lounge for the living room which we made do with for a few years.  But I still had to do the washing up and let the cat out.  So not completely spoiled....

So that's my contribution.  Self-centred I know but it was the best of a bad bunch.  

For more takes on the group or gang of four head over here....

Comments

La Nightingail said…
Cute pictures! We're cat people too or at least have been since one followed us home 33 years ago and he led to five more over time. Before that I was a bird person - as in parakeets. I've sewn with a lot of different fabrics, but I'd never heard of viyella before & had to look it up - a blend of wool & cotton. Hopefully I can find some somewhere so I can experience what it feels like. Interesting.
Wendy said…
You're lucky to have photos doing nothing special. It seems in our family the camera required an occasion. It also seems there were long periods when we must not have even had one.
Anonymous said…
Lots of memories evoked there - yes I do remember Viyella - both myself and my daughter had clothes made from it - so snug in winter. Co incidentally we don't live all that far from Aranda these days, but we are newcomers. Have you been to Canberra recently? so many new suburbs.
Anonymous said…
Lots of memories there. Yes I remember Viyella, both my daughter and myself and clothes made from it - so cosy in winter. Co-incidentally we live not far from Aranda now, but we are newcomers. Have you been to Canberra recently? - so many new suburbs.
Alex Daw said…
I do hope you find it. It's a bit like brushed cotton I suppose only nicer. Useful for people who live in cold climates. As I now live in a semi-tropical environment we have no need for it.
Alex Daw said…
It's difficult to catch your subject at ease isn't it? Or lacking self-consciousness. Only comes with the very young I think. We also spend a lot of time rushing around these days doing stuff and not taking the time to reflect that it won't always be this way. That subtly we grow, change and move on.
Alex Daw said…
Thanks genepenn. I try to get to Canberra as often as possible but it ends up being about every five to ten years now. School reunions mostly (every ten years) but I still have friends in Canberra and it is such a beautiful place and so rich in terms of cultural institutions that I love it more and more whenever I return. But I think that may be the way of all places where you grew up. And yes, much has changed. Aranda used to be considered "out in the sticks" but now it's virtually inner city!
Kristin said…
I found this about jodpurs. I thought they might be Indian in origin, From wikepidea "They originate from an ancient style of Indian trouser called the Churidar, which is tight around the calf and baggy at the hips, still worn at traditional Jodhpury weddings.[2] This is a special traditional style of clothing in Northern India, especially in what is today the modern state of Rajasthan, which has its capital at the city of Jaipur. Sir Pratap Singh, a younger son of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, popularised in England the style of riding-trousers worn in Jodhpur, a design that he apparently improved and perfected by himself and first tailored in India about 1890
Mike Brubaker said…
My father always seemed to have a camera, and as an only child I grew up with a similar collection of photos. It's strange that I don't remember the days when the photos were taken, but I know the photos by heart.
Postcardy said…
I remember plaid viyella shirts--sort of like a deluxe flannel. I didn't know that it was used for dresses.
Alan Burnett said…
I always think you can define a photographer as someone who takes photographs of nothing special - and so often it is the photos taken of no special occasion or no special place that are the most vocal in speaking to us down the years.
Boobook said…
Wendy's right. Photos of the ordinary are so lovely to have.
Brett Payne said…
I think our memories, particularly of our youth, are shaped so much by family photos such as these. It seems to me improbable that one might remember incidents that happened at such a young age, but many do. I wonder if what we are remembering is long ago memories of someone describing to us those events in relation to the snapshots - in other words, memories of memories, rather than the actual events themselves.

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