Saturday Snapshots: April 17, 2010

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." ~ Lao Tzu

{There is something wonderfully special about this simple, seemingly routine family photo from 1958. From the ladies in the back row sweetly holding hands to the adoration in the eyes of the elderly woman in the front row, I feel that this family (identified as the Honeycutts) shared a very close bond.}



{How precious is this darling little girl, with her long (bow adorned) curls and round cherub cheeks? Perched on the family porch in 1949, this adorable child is clearly nibbling something, but what? I’ve studied the largest version of this shot and still not sure – the best I can figure, it looks a bit like a chicken leg, but I’m not certain. What do you think her snack is?}



{While this 1958 photo of the inside of a Californian shopping center seems rather mundane, I find it quite interesting as malls were very much a new player on the landscape of American society in the fifties (though they had existed, in a sense that we’d identify as being similar to our modern malls, for a few decades at that point). Love them or loath them, malls would rapidly come to replace many (though thankfully, not all) department stores, pop and mom shops, and smaller independent merchants in the coming decades. When I look at this photo though, the thought that jumps out at me the most though is how much I’d love to go shopping at a ‘50s mall – just think of all the amazing fashions!}



{A newly married couple beam with the unmistakable happiness that radiates from the faces of many on their wedding day, in this photo from 1955. From the backseat of a car, the happy couple simultaneously look back at their guests and ahead at their shared future at the same time.}



{"What are we gonna do? Win! Who are we gonna beat? The guys in the red jerseys!" :D A male prep squad cheers on their school’s football team in this well taken – and wonderfully vivid – vintage photo, for which no background information is provided. Given multitude the gents on the field, I think it would be a safe bet to say that these fellows attended an all-boys school.}



{Not to gush, but oh my word, how fantastic is this shot from 1939 of a group of female student pilots? From these go-getter gals’ casual yet entirely smart outfits to the snazzy paint job on the plane, everything about this photo works together to create a marvellous slice of history!}



{Beach goers enjoy an array of activities, from sunbathing to boating in this blissfully tropical snapshot that was taken in the late fifties on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. (What I wouldn’t give to get away for a few days and dip my toes in warm Hawaiian waters like those!)}



{Three women chat and work in an (somewhat industrial looking) kitchen in this colour snap from 1957. I love the large cans of food, pair of calendars and the large, heavy duty mixer. I wonder what these ladies were whipping up – and what they were discussing.}



{Washed in toasty, serene sunlight a woman smiles as she sets the table with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in this lovely vintage slice-of-life shot. I like to imagine this lady’s name was Mable and that she was readying the house for a causal summertime dinner party, after which many hands of bridge would be played.}



{Dated from 1939, this shot shows a hip, sleekly dressed (seriously, check out her shorter hemline and the impressive crease in his slacks) young couple who look like they’re about to head out for a fantastic night of fun.}


{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


Love has always been an indispensable part of my life, as it is for so many of us. Not simply the romantic kind, but all varieties of love: that which is born of a friendship which will always be a part of your soul (even if the two of you part for whatever reason); the unyielding, immeasurably powerful love of a parent for their child; the love that you realize you've had for someone you’ve known for years in whatever capacity, but never quite identified as a friend, yet suddenly it occurs to you that your life would seem to be missing a substantial piece if that person were to disappear.

When I look at old photos – the older in fact, the more often this thought emerges – I ponder the loves that the faces looking back at me encountered, came into this world blessed with, created through their own actions, discovered in the most unusual of circumstances. Brothers in arms, sisters in suffrage, companions on the darkest of nights and brightest of days, lovers that were so enamoured with each other their hearts all but beat in perfect unison.

Just as many faces of the past will forever remain nameless to me, so too will the stories of the loves they knew, but that doesn’t stop me from imagining the strength, courage, hope, and dreams these loves spawned and the way in which they changed these strangers paths forever – just as the loves over the course of my existence have affected mine.