Collecting Vintage Images

[TheFlyingCamera]

So who here collects vintage images? I've gotten hooked on collecting vernacular tintypes and daguerreotypes. Fortunately they're still quite affordable for the most part, although vintage Dags are starting to get up there. I just won an auction for an actual Plumbe signed dag. Looking forward to getting it in my hands.

 

[tjaded]

I collect vintage images...my main thing is Kodachromes from the 1940's-1960's. I would love to buy some daguerreotypes, but everytime I see some for sale they are out of my price range. I have lots of random prints from the early 20th century, but Kodachromes are what I am hooked on.

 

[pgomena]

I like to collect stereo cards from the late 19th-early 20th centuries. They're relatively cheap, easy to come by, and some of them are visually pretty amazing. I collect all kinds of scenes from all over the world, mostly choosing ones I like for their composition or for the complexity of the stereo effect. Fun stuff.

Peter Gomena

 

[Stephen Frizza]

I collect vintage images, im not a huge collector but as i come across images of interest i acquire them. I have a love of 1950's homoerotica printed on silk and world war 2 images taken by amateur soldiers

 

[Michael W]

I'm an occasional buyer of vintage photos if I find the look of the process interesting and if the image has some resonance for me. I own one daguerreotype; a mounted Kodachrome soft porn image from the '50s and a range of glass negatives of varied subject matter. I like the glass negs because I then own the original and can make prints from them.

 

[luvcameras]

Here are some "vintage" images of photographers Dead Link Removed

Dan

 

[Sjixxxy]

I love looking for strange prints taken by people who's names I'll never know. I like to keep them as fall back content for days when I want to create a new blog post, but aren't in the mood to write. Everything I've shared so far can be accessed though the following page http://www.kpraslowicz.com/category/anonymous-photographs/

 

[Sjixxxy]

While we are on the subject, does anyone else get disheartened when they notice an old image in an antique store or where ever, only to realize it is a badly scanned & injetted copy on closer inspection?

 

[Ria]

While we are on the subject, does anyone else get disheartened when they notice an old image in an antique store or where ever, only to realize it is a badly scanned & injetted copy on closer inspection?

Absolutely.
But what makes me sad is to come across a stack of images, multiple generations of the same family, and realize that either there is no one left to care about these images and the people they represent or that there is a familiy out there that has lost this chunk of their history.
Ria

P.S. As a favour to your descendants, please identify all people in your photos. I have boxes of images of people to whom I am related and I have no idea who they are.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

While we are on the subject, does anyone else get disheartened when they notice an old image in an antique store or where ever, only to realize it is a badly scanned & injetted copy on closer inspection?

That's absolutely depressing. Fortunately I haven't come across much of that other than to fill picture frames, and then it's been obvious that they're selling the frame rather than the image.

 

[benjiboy]

I read in the paper that a man whose father died recently found in his dads effects a studio portrait of Adolf Hitler by Hoffman Hitler's photographer, a picture that was previously unknown and unique,, the man has no idea where his his dad got it from, except he was in the Royal Navy in WW11, and was a P.O.W in Italy

 

[Sjixxxy]

That's absolutely depressing. Fortunately I haven't come across much of that other than to fill picture frames, and then it's been obvious that they're selling the frame rather than the image.

When I come across them, this never seems to be the case. I've seen stacks of the same reproduced image, each in its own protective sleeve labeled "Vintage Photo"

 

[John Jarosz]

While I'm not a collector of old prints, I did buy a carbon print by Thomas Annan, one of the scenes of Glasgow. When I started doing carbon, I had a hard time finding a real carbon print so I could actually see one in the flesh. I found one at a photo show and jumped in. It did keep me focused to be able to ultimately master the process. It's pretty cool in the sense that you can't see any aging of the print materials at all.

John

 

[cowanw]

I fancy myself as a portraitist and I have collected as many types of processes of portraits as I can. (no salt print yet). I thought one day I may do a book; 100 found portraits. Maybe.

 

[Sjixxxy]

I added four more vintage prints to my collection this weekend. Of the four, I think the most interesting is the following one.

Dead Link Removed

Other three can be found here on my web site.

 

[smieglitz]

Started with a couple tintypes, then got thematic with people and their dolls. I'm mixing them up with some of my own, but you can get a taste on my Flickr set. (Some are NSFW.)

I think this is my favorite vintage one so far:

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I added four more vintage prints to my collection this weekend. Of the four, I think the most interesting is the following one.

Dead Link Removed

Other three can be found here on my web site.

Do you know if that is Pearl Harbor?

 

[Sjixxxy]

Do you know if that is Pearl Harbor?

That was my first impression. But not being a historian, I'm not sure. There was another photo in the box of the same proportions where the image was just as soft as the battleship image. It depicted a bombed out town that look very European.

 

[benjiboy]

I added four more vintage prints to my collection this weekend. Of the four, I think the most interesting is the following one.

Dead Link Removed

Other three can be found here on my web site.

The soldier on you're website with the 4x5 camera is by his cap badge from the British Royal Tank Regiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tank_Regiment.

 

[David William White]

I fancy myself as a portraitist and I have collected as many types of processes of portraits as I can. (no salt print yet). I thought one day I may do a book; 100 found portraits. Maybe.

If ever you do, put me down for a copy.