The man on the far right…what’s that he’s holding in his hand? That’s my grandfather, here with three of his brothers. When I find a photo in which he is included, I’m always intrigued by how the photo was taken, since he was usually the one behind the camera.
I recently wrote about the coincidence that both my husband and I had maternal grandfathers who were professional photographers. Sometimes we can find a cable in the photo leading to a remote shutter release. Those were available from as early as 1918 in advertisements like this one found here.
In this case, zooming and examining (you can click on any image to enlarge it) reveals no cable, and in the 1940’s when this photo was probably taken, there was no timer built in to cameras as we have now. However, my Grandfather did have a son who helped him with his photography business by that time. Homer, Jr. went to work in the darkroom at age 7, in 1935. It is likely that he, Jr., is the one taking this photo. And, GrandDaddy is probably holding the remnants of a cigar.
I printed this photo on fabric from a vintage linen tablecloth, painted some elements, layered it on wool batting, and stitched around the figures with silk thread. It is layered on cotton fabric, a layer of old burlap, and then on an old quilt remnant. The resulting piece measures 14” x 17”.
The process of stitching these photos sometimes yields as interesting an image on the back as on the front. Here you see what one viewer considered the shadows of these brothers.
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