Congressman Abraham Lincoln

I do and I’ve spent countless hours looking at old photographs, particularly Daguerreotypes.  Can you imagine sitting still for a 15 minute exposure?  Well, these brave souls did it.

The Library of Congress has a collection of Daguerreotypes and for whatever reason I found the Occupational Daguerreotypes most interesting.  Knowing the average exposure was about 15 minutes the photographs appear ghostly.  The subject is trying to keep still while blood continues to course through their veins and the heart continues to beat.

Yes, I do have a fascination for old photographs and I have enjoyed looking at old photographs of family members taken in the early 1900s.  The stiff poses and lacking smiles are very different than the photos taken in an instant today.  Digital photography allows us to snap off a bunch of photographs with nary a thought given to composition, lighting or facial expressions.  Sometimes, when looking at photographs, I find myself longing for the good old days when we took our time to compose the image, took time to find suitable lighting, and tried — even amateurs — to present our subjects — friends, families, acquaintances — in a more complimentary way.  C’est la vie!

Prof. Thaddeus Lowe

With that in mind, there is another site of old photographs that has gotten my attention.  The site is Old Picture of the Day and is run by a man calling himself “PJM” and what a funny guy.  Every now and then he runs a contest asking his readers to guess the names of people in the photographs.  On one occasion he had a “Trifecta” but unfortunately I only knew one of the men, the Balloon guy“.  Well, for Altadena historians the man is Professor Thaddeus Lowe.   Other than that one photo I’ve not been able to guess many of the subjects but I have enjoyed the guessing games of others.

The site features photos from the Great Depression, slavery, Native Americans, Mexico and so much more.  The images are beautifully, well preserved photographs.

If you like old photos like I do, check out Old Picture of the Day.  Great site!