Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: captions

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a written caption or comment (added to the front or back of a photo, the funnier or snarkier the better) . Handwritten caption: "Some Trouble!" License plate: "2352. Mass." (the year on the plate is illegible). Looks like the photographer had some trouble with an unintended triple exposure. The photo was cut from an album and trimmed unevenly like this when I purchased it.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tree (in a studio photo) . Caption: "I'll Eat Oranges for You — You Throw Snow Balls for Me." This is a real photo postcard sent sometime after Thanksgiving in 1922 from "Aunt Orpha" in California to "Master George Myers" in Burbank, Ohio. Printed on the other side: "Orange Grove Souvenir. Novelty Studios, 520 S. Broadway & 414 W. 7th, Los Angeles, Cal." Handwritten message: "My dear George. This man is a male nurse. He was in training when I was. We had a turkey dinner [on] Thanksgiving. What did you have? Aunt Ella was with us and your Uncle Tom's niece. By-by. Your Aunt Orpha." The "eat oranges" / "throw snowballs" caption appeared on souvenir photo postcards like this one that tourists in sunny California could send to relatives enduring winter weather back home. For another example, see I'll Eat Oranges for You—You Throw Snowballs for Me .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of this was the [you name the decade] (please explain why the photo represents the period) . "Midway Diner, where we ate our dinner. On our trip to Atlantic City. Thursday, July 13, 1950." This was the 1950s -- just barely -- but diners like this have played a significant role in fifties nostalgia. As Wikipedia observes, "In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob , Happy Days , Grease , and Diner ), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date." Based on other photos I purchased along with this one, I believe that the family members who ate their dinner here on July 13 were traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, from their home in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania. This suggests that the Midway Diner was located somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to determine exactly where. As I was getting ready to post this picture, I discovered that I used a different diner photo for a previous 1950s theme for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See Good Food Federal Diner, Brookline Avenue, Boston, Mass., 1956 .

"'Blasting stumps' on the Isted Farm. Whipple Photo." A dramatic real photo postcard showing the detonation of dynamite or some other explosive in an apparent attempt to clear tree stumps from a field. Evidently, though, the blast didn't look impressive enough, so the photographer drew on the negative to add large pieces of fake debris flying high into the air. It also appears that the photographer crossed out an earlier caption and wrote the words "blasting stumps" over it. I haven't been able to determine the location of "Isted Farm" or the identity of the "Whipple Photo" photographer.

Handwritten caption: "Labor Day, 1905, Elitch's Gardens." This real photo postcard wasn't postally used, and there's no address, message, or postmark on the other side that might help identify these three individuals. According to Wikipedia, " Elitch Gardens was a family-owned seasonal amusement park, theater, and botanic garden in the West Highland neighborhood in northwest Denver, Colorado, United States, at 38th and Tennyson streets."

A real photo postcard with a note: "Uncle Ira with His Pigs on Wig Hill, the homestead that grandpa H. I. Johnson [built]." See the full version for the uncropped photo and accompanying note (below).

"Uncle Ira with His Pigs on Wig Hill, the homestead that grandpa H. I. Johnson [built]." For a better view of Uncle Ira and his pigs, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard (below).

Handwritten note on the back of this real photo postcard: "A study in hand bags." I thought at first that this might be Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, but I haven't been able to confirm it. Unfortunately, I can't make out any of the inscription on the plaque that's bolted to the side of the brickwork. Does anyone recognize the location? Can anyone identify the type of fortification structure or the kinds of artillery?

Does anyone recognize this location? There's no identifying information on the back of this real photo postcard, and I can't quite figure out what the word written at the top might be.

Cropped version of a real photo postcard See also the full version (below). Handwritten on the front of this postcard: Dear Mr. Morrow, With kindest regards a photo taken of our club. Yours truly, E. T. Ziegler. Photograph taken Christmas 1905. 1. Violin: Mr. Kusenberg 2. Mandolin: Mr. Rieger 3. Mandola: Mr. Philippi 4. Zither: Mr. Berger 5. Guitar: Mr. Haring 6. Banjo: Mr. Ziegler Back of card: Addressed to "Mr. F. S. Morrow, Music Teacher, Green St., Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A." Postmarked Sterkrade, Germany, January 8, 1906.

See also a cropped version of this real photo postcard. Handwritten on the front of this postcard: Dear Mr. Morrow, With kindest regards a photo taken of our club. Yours truly, E. T. Ziegler. Photograph taken Christmas 1905. 1. Violin: Mr. Kusenberg 2. Mandolin: Mr. Rieger 3. Mandola: Mr. Philippi 4. Zither: Mr. Berger 5. Guitar: Mr. Haring 6. Banjo: Mr. Ziegler Back of card: Addressed to "Mr. F. S. Morrow, Music Teacher, Green St., Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A." Postmarked Sterkrade, Germany, January 8, 1906.

Handwritten on the back of the photo: "Lizzie from Paul Neiman. A Rosy Crowd."

Handwritten on the back of this real photo postcard: "Grandpa Boor. Robert H. Studebaker. 82 & 2." Posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park group for "old age" theme week. It's poignant how the boy is resting his hand on top of his grandfather's.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of cooking: outside or in . I'm not sure what mama's cooking, but she may be preparing food for a picnic. There appear to be white cloth-covered baskets lying in the grass, with one or two baskets barely visible behind mama and another in the right midground. "Mama cookin' 'em. Catherine Mueller." Sent to Mr. W. S. Osgood, 410 Morris Bldg., New Orleans, La., and postmarked Kansas City, Kans., Aug. 20, 1907. There's no other message on the back.

A signs photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Guess who?" is what appears on the sign on the backs of these women (or could they be men disguised in women's clothes?), and the handwritten message on the other side of this real photo postcard says, "If you know us, drop us a line." The card was postmarked Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec., 4, 1911, and addressed to "Master Clairmont Hileman, R.F.D. No. 3, Hollidaysburg, Pa." If this is the same person identified as Clairmont W. Hileman (1903-1943) on the Find A Grave Web site, then he was eight years old in 1911.

"Hartman Gish - 3 yrs. old." A real photo postcard postmarked Richland, Pa., July 26, 1907. Addressed to: Miss Charlotte Gable, Schaefferstown, Leb. Co., Pa. Handwritten message on back: "Thanks for the beads. Hartman likes them so much. He even slept with them. Pardon me for not writing sooner. Don't Hartman look natural. Clara is coming on Sat. Lovingly, Christie."

"Apr. 16 '11. Here is a Easter chicken. Easter greetings to Bertha from Clifford."

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park monthly topic of cats (submit a photo on this topic each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic) . I'm not sure what to make of this snapshot of a white-robed figure reclining on a sofa along with a black cat. "Keith Richards' Mother" is the irreverent caption written on the other side of the photo by the antiques dealer who sold it to me. For another example of the precaptioned pictures that I bought from this dealer over the years, see Grandma's Last Step .