Packing, Procrastination, and Pretty Pictures of Pretty Pals

You can see I was determined to make that alliteration work.

So while I should be packing for my second semester in Oxford since I am flying out tomorrow, I'm sitting on the internets and updating my iPod for the long flight.

So I decided to share a couple of pictures (Gee, you should be proud of me here - did you catch it?) that I took recently, as I've been trying to get back into photography after college pulled me apart from my best friend and main model (Gracie, duuuurh) and my shutter-snapping skills are getting a but rusty.

Photography used to be such a passion of mine (sorry if that sounds trite) and it consumed so much of my everyday thought process, much as early-twentieth century culture does now. It feels like utter crap to try to  get back into this and find that the old adage is true - use it or lose it - as I've found I'm nowhere near as fluent as I used to be with a camera and translating what I see into a photograph. Ah well. It'll just take practice, as that's what got me there before. I have a Flickr account that I began... sheesh, my sophomore year of high school!... that has been sadly neglected since I went to college.

Anyway, here's one picture of Gracie that I took while she was staying at my house.

And one of my friend Cady, who was an awesome and patient model while I once again figured out fingerwaves and futzed around with the camera settings.

I have been itching to edit more pictures from these sets, but I don't have photoshop (I did before I switched to Mac) and so I've tried to make use of iPhoto's editing software but its just no good. I need to buck up and buy photoshop sometime soon...

See you all on the other side of the Atlantic, if I don't post again before then!

Emily

My Fickle Eye

Here is a small selection of dreamboats and cutie-pies of yesteryear who do not meet the qualifications for our "Can't Help Loving That Man" series, as none of them are celebrities and thus not allowing for maximum stalking-esque research.

Feel free to ogle like there's no tomorrow, as far as they're concerned, there isn't.

My favorite. Yes. Definitely. Partially because it's just such a good photo.
From the flickr of the Library of Congress of New Zealand . . .maybe...?

Artist Feature: John Miehle

I didn't learn John Miehle's name until recently, but I've known many of his images for awhile (and I'm sure lots of you will recognize some of them too). He was a still photographer for a ton of movies in the 30s and 40s, but according to his IMDb page, he was uncredited for almost all of them! I can't figure out why this was - perhaps this has to do with the different style of crediting in older films, and it didn't become standard to mention a film's still photographer until later? Anyway, he did the stills/publicity shots for a lot of really well-known and awesome films - Top Hat, Flying Down to Rio, Kitty Foyle, Stage Door, Swing Time, Follow the Fleet, Bachelor Mother, Vivacious Lady - and to point out a very obvious trend, was apparently attached by the hip to Ginger Rogers, career-wise! Seriously, go take a look at his IMDb page, and you'll see almost every movie Ginger did in the 30s, he was a still photographer for! Was she personally employing him? Anybody who can explain this, or who can say with certainty that it was purely coincidence or that they happened to work well together, let me know! Again the internet is pretty sparse with info on him.

Anyway, he did work on non-Ginger films - Rain, with Joan Crawford (some images from this displayed here), and Rope with Jimmy Stewart, for example. I've only included images of his that I saw were explicitly described as being his own, since I don't know if perhaps more than one still photographer was employed in the aforementioned films. Let me know if I've credited something incorrectly.

And now for his lovely images of beautiful people. Enjoy!

Stunning portrait. I don't normally think Joan Crawford is super beautiful, but this image is something else. 

A Bit About Weddings

I love weddings. Or the idea of them at least. I actually have only been to one wedding in my life. I was 7 so I sort of hated it. Anyway, I now appreciate them because they are one of the few times large groups of people get together and have to dress nicely, and that makes me really happy. Also, there are some really pretty weddings so I am really excited to go to any weddings in the future (my cousin just got engaged so I will going to at least one soon).
Anywho, I was snooping about in my Grandma Ana's stuff and found her wedding album so I took some pictures of the photos. She was married in '52 I think... and must have gotten knocked up pretty quickly since my mom had two older brothers, and she was born in '55.
... anyway...

Doin' the Dirty

And by "the dirty" I mean procrastinating the dozen or so things I need to do over the next several hours, including writing a paper on a local Gothic Cathedral's architecture, creating tiny gardens and zombie food (unrelated) and starting and finishing an 8-10 page essay about historic gardens. Im starting to wish caffeine had an affect on me, but alas...
So, what better way to not do what I need to than by online shopping (no luck there of course) and blog browsing (sadly, there is only so much I can take in at once!) and posting?!
Here you have it folks! More pictures of my gorgeous family in the heart of the good ol' U.S.A., New York, New York. For the majority at least...

Ana at 15 years. Pre-glamour it seems... Still love it. Oakdale, NY, USA.
1940

Ana outside of Tia Josie's house at 18 years (so she says....) Also, she looks A LOT like my mom here. Which makes sense, but it's still really weird.

Ana at 15 lounging in Oakdale, NY.
1940

My Grand Gran

Here's some eye-candy for all of you who are as clothing, hair, hat and shoe obsessed as I am.

There are some really glorious things that were in my family's possession. Curses upon who ever decided it was a good idea to throw out the things they didn't wear anymore!

My Tia Middy and my grandma, Ana, in 1943 (-ish). 

Ana, a friend I have yet to identify, and Middy in 1943.

Another unidentified friend and Ana at 18.