Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images.
I haven’t participated in Sepia Saturday for quite a while and it’s good to be back – even if it’s just for a random week here and there. The prompt picture offered this week reminded me of one I have shared previously, but I’ll go with something else.
This photograph was taken the day my Uncle Roy married the love of his life, my dear Aunt Joan.
That’s my cousin Deb standing just off our grandparents’ porch and petting a dog. Although my cousin is not standing in the doorway, there are others behind her in the half-opened door. I think the woman in the doorway is one of my aunts. I am the little girl mostly hidden from view behind her.
I have another copy of this photo. My grandmother tried to cut out the extraneous people in the doorway, leaving only my cousin and the dog. Although my cousin was clearly the cute subject of the photo, I prefer the original. It tells more of a story. Croppers beware!
On the back of this cropped picture, my grandmother identified my cousin by name and the dog as Fido. But the dog was named Bimbo. Maybe Grandma was thinking back to the dog my Uncle Roy once loved and lost in a sad tale of a dog who killed a neighbor’s chickens. His name was Fido.
When I think of Bimbo, I always think of this song that one of my uncles must have taught me. It’s the chorus that I remember. Bimbo was primarily an outside dog and there were no fences so he had run of the surrounding area and we didn’t always no where he was – which makes the song rather fitting.
Knock on a few more doors and see what other Sepia Saturday participants are sharing today.
I’m with you on the cropping business…sometimes! This one is much better in the original; love the people behind the door more than the front-runner!
I do crop pictures when I scrapbook (but I haven’t done that in a while, so no cropping has occurred recently). Working with old photos and family history has made me more aware of what might disappear.
Hi Kathy……your email, especially with pictures, brings back a lot of good memories. And I’ll bet you hear from Deb with this one.
Don
I put the picture on Facebook for Deb and Aunt Joan to tell me anything they remembered – and they did. Joan cleared up the dog’s name and that is was taken the day of her wedding.
A good photo either way. One for display and one for the history and memories. My dad, an amateur photographer, printed thousands like this in different sizes, cropped, un-cropped. It’s often difficult to figure out which was the original.
Sometimes cropping does make a photo better. Wow – thousands of photographs. What a collection.
I often keep both the full & cropped version of photos for the very reason you mention. I like to have the close-up of the main character, but sometimes the background is equally important! Your cousin Deb was certainly a cute little gal. The dog looks sweet, too.
That is a good policy. Bimbo was a sweet dog as I remember him.
I have to agree with you about the cropping, so very often it is the stuff that is cropped off that is the most interesting after fifty years. These days with digital images and the ability of everyone to crop at will via a computer, the photographs when looked at 50 years down the line are going to be much less interesting. Lovely photo.
I’m afraid you are right, Alan – and will there be that many printed photographs or will they all be lost to the computer universe when someone dies?
I too keep an uncropped copy.
We can still see your little arm in the background – a hint of more to the ‘cropped’ story!
Yes – I didn’t disappear completely.
Coincidentally I have recently started to keep the originals ans well as cropped digital photos because of what ,ay be lost otherwise. Cute girl and a dog that’s enjoying itself.
Thanks, Bob. I do like this photograph of Deb and Bimbo.
Oh how wonderfully innocent that song is. Imagine it making the charts today. A very fun post.
Not many innocent songs on the charts today, that’s for sure. Thanks for stopping by.
Wonderful photo, Kathy, and I agree that “croppers” need to be careful they do not clip the story out of the shot.
Your mention of a dog called, “Fido” and chickens incident that ended tragically makes me think of a movie we just watched.. You would probably really enjoy “Dean Spanley”. I highly recommend it.
Kat
I’ve never heard of that movie, but I’ll look it up. Thanks for the recommendation.
A gorgeous little girl and a cute little dog – how could any such picture fail! I find I am apt to crop pictures for my blog – but perhaps I should stop and think again – or keep both versions. Thank you for making the point. .
It just seemed so obvious – having the two to compare. I crop a lot of pictures too. Guess it depends on the purpose. But I am starting to give it more thought.
I love the subtlety of that original shot with you hiding inside!
Thanks, Jo. I really like it too.
Oh yes, I remember that song! (Although I hate to admit it.)
I am guilty of cropping photos for my scrapbooks. But with digital photos, I keep both the original and the cropped version.
A lot of things I share here date me! 🙂
This was a perfect post. I especially find the doggie so much like my own beloved dog, Lady who just went to doggie heaven in August. I swear it’s her twin!
So sorry about Lady. It’s funny that Bimbo doesn’t look exactly as I remember him. I didn’t know dog breeds as a little girl – except for Lassie. I loved that show. Somehow in my memory, Bimbo looked a bit more like a collie. 🙂
Lovely that you could join us again this week Kathy, and with an intereresting photograph.I think we’re all of one mind about the dangers of over-cropping; mind you my mother’s foot with its furry slipper attached has become a star in its own right!
How funny. I’m imagining photo bombs of a furry slipper sneaking in the lower corners of your photos.