One time a reporter asked me to tell them how many photos I’ve seen in my career. I’m simply not able to estimate that number. As a picture person, I look at client images, ones for my collection, and then the ones I use for research purposes. Suffice to say I’ve looked at more images in my life than I can say. That means it’s a rare photo that makes me go, “What?!” Yet that’s exactly what I said when William Samland showed me two images.

Here’s the first one. It’s his great grandfather. It’s a lovely studio shot of a man in work clothes. Nothing unusual except for the way he wears his watch fob on his hips.

It was the next image that made me go hmm.

It appears that George (or his family) wanted a more formal image of him so they took the first picture to a studio and had them alter it. It’s now a crayon portrait and instead of work clothes George is wearing a suit. Perhaps he went to the same studio a second time, but there is something about this image that makes me think he didn’t. Look closely.

There are a couple of differences. The artist thinned George’s mustache. It’s not unusual to see artistic changes in a crayon sketch.

It’s the same exact pose, chair and background. So were they both created in the same time frame. It’s possible. Crayon portraits like this had stylistic differences depending on when they were made. If the first picture was taken in the 1890s then George would be in his thirties. The color tone of the photo and the background suggests that. The chair is out of the mid 1860s but studios often held on to props. There is no photographer listed on either image.

While this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a double like this, this set is particularly nice. Thank you to Bill Samland for letting me feature his image in this post.

Photo Consults

Do you have a photo you’d like to know more about? I’d love to help. Each consult comes with a recording. There are rates for one, three, or many images.

The post An Altered Reality: One Man. Two Photos appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

Two and a half years ago, Shannon Uschold of GenerationStory app was a guest on this podcast.  Listeners rocketed it to one of the top ten episodes where it stayed for a couple of years. I know you have heirlooms you don’t know what to do with and items you’d like to share. Two years ago, Shannon had a dream and worked tirelessly to find solutions. She did it. GenerationStory app gives us a way to preserve the stories of heirlooms large and small as well as providing a way for us to share our history by creating new items from pillows to wall coverings.  

Related Episodes:

Episode 19: GenerationStory App

Episode 86: Every Thing Tells a Story

Links:

• GenerationStory Save 40% with PD40
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

Shannon Uschold is the Founder & CEO of GenerationStory, a free app that provides anyone a quick and easy way to archive, and tell the story of your most treasured family keepsakes and heirlooms.  In addition to the app, GenerationStory has a Shopify site offering on-demand, customizable products using images of your most treasured items. 

The mission is to capture memories before they are lost and to help people organize and share their family story. 

For Shannon, Every object has a story.  Like many things, GS had a history even before it was created. Compelled by childhood memories, objects, and family stories that surrounded her –  Shannon was inspired to create a solution for organizing and capturing memories before they were lost.  Each time she visited her grandmother’s house, she could be found sitting on a carpet in front of a bookcase full of old family treasures.  Her grandmother would tell little stories about the strips of paper that were rolled inside or attached to the back of an item. 

Coming from a long line of family preservationists, a grandmother, her mother, it’s no wonder Shannon found herself captivated by family stories.  She is a storyteller with a mission to preserve those significant objects in our lives and personal histories.  For Shannon, objects possess the power to captivate and inspire.

The GenerationStory approach that every object has a story – creates a pathway to connect all generations providing the capability to bring together all ages across all cultures.  They are focused on preserving stories before they are lost through the unique lens of sharing our family treasures.  Sharing the story of …… Who We Are, Who We Were and Who We Will Be. 

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada.  She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira).  She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

The post Episode 129: Using Photos to Create Heirlooms With GenerationStory appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

In this monthly podcast, Maureen shares questions received via email and through social media.

• Can you tell us about changing exposure times for photographic portraits and why people didn’t smile for pictures?
• Do you have a good resource for looking up photographer names by location and years they were active?
• Is there a good resource for dating children’s clothing styles?
• How can I preserve a rusty tintype?
• Can you determine the financial status of a person in a portrait?
• What can you do with deteriorating Polaroids?

Related Episodes:

Episode 117: Ask Maureen February 2021

Episode 113: Ask Maureen January 2021

Links:

• Reunions Magazine
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada.  She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira).  She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

The post Episode 121: Ask Maureen March 2021 appeared first on Maureen Taylor.