It’s been a while since we visited the Floral Hall at Southport, but it has helped us identify this walking picture taken near the venue’s car park probably in the late 1940s. You can see two more with the same couple on under the Southport page on the site. We do like the fancy buttons on her belted two piece top too.
This great Sunfilms movie camera walking picture strip which I have animated show three very jolly looking people strolling along a seafront, although for now the location remains a mystery (as indeed does that great looking Bradford registered coupe on their right! A 1929 Morris Cowley Bullnose perhaps?). My guess is husband, wife and a good friend enjoying a seaside break. It dates from the early 1930s and they look very amused by the photographer, and returned to the kiosk to purchase the strip of pictures later in the day.
If anyone recognises the seafront buildings please get in touch [WP1339]. Sunfilms is one of the firms covered on this site and there are more animated strips also on the site.
I don’t usually pick up American postcards but couldn’t resist this example, posted back from New York to the parents of one of the couple. They dated it front and back and give the location too, close to Central Park, so perhaps doing the tourist spots!
This woman is on a stroll somewhere on sunny Jersey, caught (like the couple in the grass in the distance) by a walking pictures movie cameraman. She is gripping her handbag and also swinging a smart looking folding camera by the short strap. I like the determined look she is giving the cameraman; by this time the cine photographers were probably a familiar sight to holidaymakers but here it clearly looks as if the encounter is something to be endured! Nevertheless she took the ticket and purchased the strip of three prints later in the day. It was cut up but then the prints were mounted in a photo album, so have survived in fairly good condition (although the negatives show quite a lot of scratches from careless handling in the darkroom).
It was taken by the firm of Walkies based at 39 Broad Street in St Helier, where most of the walking picture firms had their main office over the years. The woman in the very brightly patterned dress behind is next in line.
I was wondering what camera the woman herself was using, so asked camera collector David Gardner. “There were many makers of folding cameras in the 1920s but you would be on pretty safe ground to bet it’s a Kodak as they sold far more than anyone else. There are a few of clues which support Kodak. (These) lead me to suggest the No.1a Pocket Kodak Junior, the UK model produced 1930 to 1936.” This picture of the back of the camera (below) certainly matches very closely. Interestingly the Kodak logo hinges outwards to help prop the camera up to enable the taking of portraits. Neat! It may be her own, but often you could hire a camera at the seaside for the week.
I did ask Dave Gardner if he might be able to spot the location, and he came back: “This is roughly where the picture was taken. It’s in the south west corner of Jersey, a path down to the La Corbiere Lighthouse. It seems has been a popular path for holiday makers for many years because of the views and the sunsets. The building is now a hotel apartment place called Corbiere Phare”. Even better, as he is a camera collector, he notes that is a Camera Obscura in the centre of the old view!
see more animated walking pictures on the site
More mystery photographs! I picked these up as I felt sure I recognised the spot, but couldn’t get a match with anything in the archive. So if you have any bright ideas let me know. It is a seaside town, and quite a sloping site. As I found the two frames together it does suggest a family relationship and both were clearly printed in the same darkroom, and come from movie camera strips. The two women may be sisters, they are very alike and have similar glasses too. But while the frame is a bit battered, most of the visible damage was done during the developing process, a result of rushed work in the darkroom and a small negative. This only serves to illustrate the fragility of these small prints, which have survived nearly 100 years.
I assume the frame below is father and his two small sons. Exactly the same spot, and the older lad is carrying two buckets and a small spade, so it looks like they are headed for the beach while Dad has his paper for a quiet read. His jacket is a little unusual, it reminds me of a transport uniform. Both frames have been removed from a family photo album at some time not too long ago so losing any context. There is what looks like a large Tea Rooms sign in the far distance…
I think these two ladies are Mother and Daughter but what we do know is that they are on their “morning constitutional” as the younger woman has written as much on the back. “Isn’t my face fat?” she also asks!
It was obviously a regular stroll as the same camera man caught her again (below), this time with “Mrs Godbar (in the middle) and a friend” and she is wearing the same outfit in both. There is something magical about these slightly hazy images which have a very atmospheric quality to them. The image below is very underexposed but with a bit of digital tweaking I have been able to increase the contrast. Frustratingly I cannot work out where they were taken. I thought at first it was a French resort due to the strong light and some of the architecture, but it might be somewhere on the south coast and two of the women have kept their big coats on.
For me though the extra bonus was on the back where the lady has felt it of sufficient interest to add “A man cine photos you as you walk…”. This is the first time I have seen such a reference! They will date from the mid-1920s.
Go Home On A Postcard • Vintage seaside photography 