Thursday, June 7, 2012

time travel

My grandmother Alice, my dad and my grandfather. 1930. Union Street, near Castlegate, Aberdeen, Scotland. This was taken by a street photographer. They would snap random pictures of passersby and hand them a card with info on where to pick up the photo (for a price)
My mum is moving and I came across a treasure trove of photos. Will be scanning them and sharing here, I am sure. I wonder who the dour faced little girl is in the foreground. I have a picture very similar to this one taken on the same street, many many years later, walking with my grandmother when I was a little girl. I remember the photographer sort of jumping out and snapping! This picture also makes me sad and mystified. That beautiful wee little boy died in my arms as an old man. Hard to wrap my head around this stuff sometimes. Photos are magic.

12 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Time travel indeed! That's a wonderful photo to have.

Sandy aka Doris the Great said...

Sweet, sweet photo; sweet, sweet memory. Lovely -- thank you.

Donna Rideout said...

What a wonderful find. I LOVE old family photos.

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

Photos really are magic.... and this one is such a treasure.

margie said...

so much has changed during our parents lifetimes. it's astonishing.

Micheline said...

I can't get over how stylish they all are. And it's such a treat to have a photo that old that isn't posed.

Unknown said...

Wow, how cool! Like the original Sartorialist! That is really neat that you have a photo from later of you and your grandmother older - very cool.

Sue McG said...

What a wonderful photo. I have something very similar of my grandparents and my father as a little boy, I always wondered who took the photo, maybe it was a street photographer - they were in England at the time. Love your grandmother's style, she's just fabulous from head to pointy shoetip.

Christina Silverio said...

This post actually brought tears to my eyes this Father's Day eve, thinking of my dear grandfather and how I was there near the end for him as well. What an incredible treasure you have here. :)

leendadll said...

i love the story. even more, i love that your family actually bought the photos.

Anonymous said...

Those pictures are precious! You cannot remake them, which makes them priceless! ♥♥♥

beekay1943 said...

The precise location of this photo is actually Union Street at Union Bridge - you can see the cast iron balustrade of the bridge on the left. This would be approximately halfway along Union Street with the Castlegate being around ½ kilometer further east. A wonderful photo.