MetaFilter posts tagged with vintage and photographs

"generations of killer ink"

madamjujujive — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:42:27 -0800

Bristol Tattoo Club & the Skuse Family - Awesome vintage photos from the studio of legendary Champion Tattoo Artist of all England, Les Skuse, who opened shop in 1928 and founded the Bristol Tattoo Club. After his death in 1973, son Danny ran the business and son Bill had his own shop. See Bill and his celebrated wife Rusty in Famous Couples in Tattoo History. Grandson Jimmie Skuse runs the Les Skuse Tattoo Studio today.

Bringing to Light the Growth and Artistic Vision of 19th & 20th Century Photography

netbros — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:49:32 -0800

The argument over whether photography should be considered an art form seems laughable to us today. Yet, beginning in the 1880s and lasting into the 20th century, members of amateur photographic clubs and societies the world over deemed the topic of artistic photography worthy of a decades-long shouting match. PhotoSeed, representing an evolving online record of this early fine-art photography movement, is a rich collection of photographs representing numerous vintage processes. From delicate platinum to exquisite hand-pulled photogravures, images produced singularly or published in portfolios and journals, as well as vintage source material, investigate the roots of the online galleries with the PhotoSeed Highlights.

Old ships and nautical memorabilia

nickyskye — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 22:15:25 -0800

Old Ships is a website packed full of evocative, interesting and historical pictures of old ships from A to Zambesi. It's a feast of all kinds of other vintage maritime images, including ports, docks, ferries, harbors, paintings, canals, rivers, maritime scenes, onboard pictures, shipboard menus, lots of great postcards and other old historical nautical memorabilia (even the ship's cat). A random selection: Samurai on horseback looking out to a ship at sea | Alexandria | Alger | Lowestoft sailing trawler | the Stella Polaris breakfast menu | "Whang poo sampans", Shanghai, China | Sea Princess luncheon menu | Lusitania sailing times | St. Jean Lighthouse, Marseille | Cairo, the Nile | Benares Bathing ghat |Queen Mary Swimming Pool | America's Cup Race Yacht Columbia and Britannia Lots of assorted images of the Titanic: boarding pass | Titanic gangway | Titanic rudder | commemorative postcard | cross section | Titanic propellers | image of the Titanic's Captain Smith (on the right), the officers and the name of the hymn that was played by the ship's band as they sank | Titanic's survivors

I can just hear it Flickr galleries

nickyskye — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:25:54 -0800

I can just hear it... (slightly nsfw). Very interesting and evocative Flickr galleries of vintage photographs of musicians, curated by MeFite, flapjax at midnite. If you enjoy these, please see parts two, three and four. flapjax' poster set on Flickr: previously | previously

Orville Wright would like to show you his new flying machine.

katillathehun — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:19:51 -0800

My Daguerreotype Boyfriend. Notables: Hermann Rorschach, Almanzo Wilder, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Cornelius. More history crushes.

Of Another Fashion

lalex — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:40:49 -0800

Of Another Fashion: An alternative archive of the not-quite-hidden but too often ignored fashion histories of U.S. women of color.

Random Bits of Vintage Ephemera

netbros — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 11:48:44 -0800

Flickr user ElectroSpark collects and shares “random bits of vintage ephemera from mid-century vacationers,” with many in the form of charming round-cornered Kodachromes. In particular, his Fairs & Expos set with its collection of holiday snapshots from Brussels ’58, New York ’64 and Expo ’67 in Montreal, are all from a by-gone era. The collection includes both vintage graphics and photos.

We have always been here

girl scientist — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:28:14 -0800

This might not be the best named Tumblr blog ever, but the content, vintage photographs of gay and lesbian couples, makes up for it. Some photos mark the extraordinary events in life, such as these reunited WW2 sailors, while others present a slice of everyday life.

Buen Tiempo

cashman — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:13:20 -0800

In the past few months vicent.zp has put up delicious photograph sets of vintage razors, fans, radios & cassette tape recorders, kitchen stuff, and lookie there, a Sputnik Weather Station. You know what time it is.

Found Snapshots: Hide This Please

gman — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:00:10 -0800

"I started collecting found snapshots a few years ago — at swap meets, antique shops and the like — but the thing that got me started wasn’t the photos themselves so much as the writing I’d sometimes find on the backs."

90 years from the streets of Budapest

madamjujujive — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:01:42 -0800

Fortepan is a collection of 4973 found amateur photos sourced mainly in Budapest. Pick a year and browse - photos are organized in chronological order from 1900 to 1990, accessible via a slider. "Users are encouraged to use, copy, send to friends, clip or paste the photos, which are free for they are not our property." (via Szanalmas, sometimes nsfw)

Time to play Spot Your Grandma!

The Whelk — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:08:11 -0800

Photographs of New York City from the 1940s in color via the Charles W. Cushman collection. The Lower East Side. Downtown - 1960. Landmarks and Times Square (via)

Times of our lives indeed

dersins — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:38:26 -0800

Hiking, biking, boating, fishing, shooting and more: "The Times of Our Lives." Wonderful scans of vintage photos of the 1950's and 1960's (uh, and 80's) from flickr user aroid. [via]

poets of everyday life

nickyskye — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:14:55 -0800

A creative New York couple and their wonderful, vintage photographs: pioneering filmmaker, Morris Engel, and award-winning photojournalist, Ruth Orkin, who is renowned for her iconic American Girl in Italy. Morris Engel wrote and directed three films: "The Little Fugitive" (1953), "Lovers and Lollipops" (1956), and "Weddings and Babies" (1958). Little Fugitive is a paean to the sights, smells, and sounds of New York, from the cramped but somehow comforting streets of Brooklyn to the dazzling chaos of Coney Island as seen through a child’s eyes. An interview with their daughter, Mary Engel. ( This site includes entertaining interviews with a variety of other New Yorkers.) Related.

Dork Yearbook

carsonb — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:42:21 -0800

Dork Yearbook - vintage tech pr0n, now with thicker glasses and footsier pajamas!

Other People's Pictures

gamera — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:45:30 -0800

You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of a flickr collection of old snapshots?

looking through old photographs

nickyskye — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:08:46 -0800

People sleeping, gently vulnerable and evocative, vintage photographs. Snowball's blog is packed full of interesting photographs: I love this one and this. Naughty Marilyn Monroe [nsfw], retro, kids, teens, from the time of the Russian invasion in Afghanistan, concentration camps.

At last, something on Livejournal I enjoyed

Astro Zombie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:23:28 -0800

Now I have seen a lion in a sidecar on a vertical wall of death. There are a lot of eye-popping images to be found on the vintage photographs livejournal group. The lion may be the eye-poppingest, but there's also this flattened elephant, this tiny photographer, and this soldier and dog in gas masks.

Arizona Then and Now

netbros — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:12:41 -0800

Arizona Then and Now -- When paired with vintage images of the 19th and 20th centuries, Arizona photographers Allen Dutton and Paul Scharbach's modern-day images reveal the changes that have shaped the state's landscape during the past 100-plus years. They searched the state to locate the precise spots from which to rephotograph the scenes captured by their predecessors, endeavoring to achieve the same angles, perspectives, and lighting as in the early photographs.

vintage images of the Far East and Asia

nickyskye — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:05:39 -0800

Images of Asia l India then and now video l Historical Chinese Postcard Project: 1896 - 1920.

vintage ephemera

nickyskye — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:15:48 -0800

Vintage Images l Vintage Ephemera l Gallery of Geishas: Art eZine has some interesting visuals, great collection of resources and links to all kinds of cool collages using a variety of vintage ephemera, like Junkyard Dolls or All Wired Up. Previously.

Vintage Flight Attendant Photos

brain_drain — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:07:58 -0800

Remember when air travel was viewed as glamorous and exciting? Of course you don't. So check out this collection of vintage flight attendant photos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

criminals, corpses & crime scenes - a vintage collection

madamjujujive — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:50:03 -0800

Crime and punishment - a curiously compelling and quirky collection of historic crime photos, including unusual mugshots, corpses & crime scenes. A few favorite characters: idle and disorderly persons; "something amazing" about Harry; a cocky quartet; an illicit drug trader who "drives his own motor car and dresses well"; a subject who refused to open his eyes; charged with conspiring to procure a miscarriage; and guilty of unlawfully possessing cocaine.
This is just one of many marvelous vintage image sets from a historical consultant from Amsterdam - a mammoth treasure trove!

'Teddy, don't worry, now mommy's here....'

anastasiav — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:49:34 -0800

Teddy Girls

Wanna Mall Crawl?

deborah — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:35:08 -0800

Malls of America - Gone (some of them) but not forgotten (well, maybe). Vintage photographs and postcards of malls of the 1960s and '70s. For more personal stories, check out Deadmalls.com.