Souvenir Photos

Posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park group for "rattan/bamboo/wicker" theme week. Although the photo is obviously contrived, the gondola--with attached ropes and sandbags--looks like a real wicker basket similar in appearance to those used for hot air balloons. A real photo postcard addressed on the back to: "Mr. and Mrs. J. [Paules?], Oakryn, Pennsylvania, U.S. America." The message on the back: "Sept. 22nd, 1910. We are spending the afternoon at Zurich on our way home from Switzerland, had a lovely drive. The lady in the balloon with us is the one we have been staying with at St. Gallen. Love, Leslie and Ethel."

A real photo postcard with a couple of usually down-to-earth military types mugging for the camera and pretending to drive (look at that big steering wheel!) an aeroplane.

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "J. A. Walk Studios, Philadelphia, Pa., Atlantic City, N.J. Opp. Million Dollar Pier entrance." For a similar souvenir photo, see The Jolly Crew of Atlantic City Life Boat No. 5 .

A laughter photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . This jolly bunch seemed to be having a good laugh as they posed for a souvenir photo in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mouse over the image to see a close-up of the men and women .

See also the full version of this real photo postcard:

"Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg-Hallein. Foto-Koblmüller, Hallein-Salzburg. Partie 103, 31 Juli 1962." Handwritten on back: "Salt mines at Salzburg." Printed on back: "Echte Photographie" [real photo].

I hope they escaped in time! A Florida souvenir real photo postcard. Postmarked: Miami, Florida, Nov. 13, 1923. Addressed to: Mr. Adam Petcher, Box 515, Somerset, Pa.

A souvenir photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . The souvenir photo category is a favorite of mine, and two of my previous theme park submissions happened to be souvenir photos (see Two Woman Posing for a Boardwalk Souvenir, Atlantic City, N.J. and High over Zurich, Sept. 22, 1910 ). This souvenir real photo postcard shows a man wearing a fez and riding an ostrich at the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena, California, sometime in the early part of the twentieth century. The logo on the fez, consisting of a scimitar, crescent, and star, identifies the man as a member of the Shriners . The letters "RAJ" are barely visible above the logo and indicate that he belonged to the Rajah Temple , which was a local Shriners' chapter based in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the time this photo was taken. For another example of a souvenir photo from the Cawston Ostrich Farm, see ricksoloway's f_cawstonostrichfarm photo on Flickr.

A real photo postcard (no. 2181, according to the photographer's notation) showing a family posing for a souvenir picture at Devil's Den , which is an outcropping of massive granite boulders located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. For other photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

Three out of four men display their patterned footwear in this socks (striped, Argyll, tights, fishnets, men's/women's garters) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For some other pertinent previously posted pictures, see my slides of Yellow Socks Guy (also known as Pipe-Smoking Man ). This is a real photo postcard showing four men posing for a souvenir picture at Devil's Den , which is an outcropping of massive granite boulders located on the Gettysburg Battlefield , a U.S. Civil War site in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The man who's barely visible at bottom left is probably peering down to take a look at a small pool of water produced by a spring underneath the boulder. For additional photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

A souvenir photo ("no. 3729," as noted by the photographer) showing four men at Devil's Den , an outcropping of massive granite boulders located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The man who's partially visible at far left is probably looking at a small pool of water produced by a spring underneath the boulder (the sign on the rock above him--although unreadable in this photo--likely provides information about the spring). For more photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

A souvenir photo (no. 3344, according to the photographer's notation) of a family visiting the Devil's Den area of the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. For additional photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

A curious souvenir photo taken at Devil's Den , a rock formation located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. A man, hat in hand, stands in the middle in front of one of the enormous granite boulders, while another man stands on top of the boulder at right. A small group of people are visible on the other side of the rock at lower right. In front of the rock is a tripod with a cloth cover, presumably hiding a camera. Could the group be assembling for a photo by a commercial photographer (who would be using the camera on the tripod) while the man in front poses for a picture taken with someone else's camera? It's possible that the man on top of the boulder is simply another tourist who happened to wander into the photo (the boulders are accessible via the hill behind them, and visitors can still walk on top of the rocks today). For similar photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

A souvenir photo taken during a 1959 school field trip to Devil's Den , a rock formation located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. For other photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

Handwritten message on the front of this real photo postcard (see writing at right, above): "High Water Mark. 12/2/06. This was all done today. What do you think of that grin? The fellow tried to take the picture without exposing the plate and we were trying to keep from laughing." The giant book behind the two men is part of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument , which is, as Wikipedia explains, "a Gettysburg Battlefield memorial which identifies the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia units of the infantry attack on the Battle of Gettysburg, third day, with a large bronze tablet, as well as the Union Army of the Potomac's 'respective troops who met or assisted to repulse Longstreet's Assault.' The memorial is named for the line of dead and wounded of Pickett's Charge which marked the deepest penetration into the Union line at The Angle when '4,500 men threw down their arms and came in as prisoners.'" For later views of the monument, see Bicyclists at the High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., 1912 and High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., August 8, 2013 (below).

What appears to be a photo of tourists bravely enduring the tumultuous waves of the whirlpool rapids in the gorge below Niagara Falls is actually a composite photo concocted in a photographer's studio. For an illustration showing how the photographer achieved this effect, see "How to Visit Niagara Falls Without Leaving Home," part of the American Museum of Photography's Montages, Multiples, and Mischief page. The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge (formerly known as the Lower Steel Arch Bridge) is visible in the background of the photo, and a second bridge, the Niagara Cantilever Bridge , is partially visible behind it.

Handwritten on the back of this real photo postcard: "1920 at Palisades Park. First I ever saw Grandma and Grandpa."