Vintage Photos: The “EVERYDAY” of the Past

For an initial description of vintage photos, remember sepia and black and white. But more than the color, vintage photos is all about the style. Its distinction from contemporary and other kinds of photos lies in the distinct style it brings to the viewer.  It’s the make-up, the fashion, the cars, the poses that matter. These things are distinct styles and aspects in these images that make them “vintage photos”.
 
The thick make up and fluffy hair:  imagine women in polka dots blouses and pencil cut skirts pouting their red lips on the camera. Some short hairstyles make it lovelier with their different hats.

The Fashion:  Think about the hats and the skirts. The hand gloves and black umbrellas, women gracefully wearing these clothes and men posing with cigarettes on their hands. Do not forget the scarves, coats and hand bags; all these define those black and white vintage photos.
 
The cars: who would not like these collectors’ items? The beetle and the mustang are just some of the vintage cars that are very popular in these prints. Great Engineering from the past is now preserved on these photos.

The pose:  For some there are portrait pictures, women, men flashing their smiles on those vintage clothes or car or it can be from everyday experiences of people of the time. People walking their dogs, kids on the playground or people kissing on the streets, these images depict the ordinary experiences of a historical past.

The way of living and industries: besides people, this is a style where vintage depictions of experiences and moments are captured. Buildings, houses and factories include these.

More than these styles, these prints also depict the hunger for experimental creativity of photographers, women trying out a new way to express themselves and be accepted in the society and documentation of significant events from the past.

 In general, these styles of vintage photos are not only depictions of a memorable past but also it lifts the strength of the time that had just experienced war. These photos also uplift the American way of living; their freedom, popular culture and ways of living their everyday vintage life. Vintage Photos serve as reflections of their everyday living, concerns and nature as Americans. It also depicts the access in technology the people of that time had. With their color, the simplicity of the technology is complicated by the images of everyday living. They maybe pictures of smiles or people on the streets, but they can also be a depiction that behind those smiles are the struggles the American society had during that time and to fight the system of their period.

These vintage prints are practices of democracy. Expression of oneself, creativity and political and economic situations all sum up to the framing of these images and chosen objects of a certain period of time. These images may vary in the choice of object or framing but what is developed from a film are the images of a distinct style prompted by their situation of that time.