There were at least two kinds of Photographers...one type came around to homes and knocked on the door...some of these would have small horses or ponies, or carts pulled by a goat...they specialized in taking photos of children; but they would also take family portraits outside with t he home in the background...People just brought their chairs outside and made the group shot, behind the camera with his head under the hood, the photographer would look thru the lens and set up exactly as he wanted, then slip in the film and shoot the photo...He would then take it back to his dark room, usually in his home and develop the film...then h e would black out all the doors or windows in the background and print the photo...You got the final in a few weeks...sometimes after he came back and tried to sell you additional prints for the various shots or sizes...same thing that Olin Mills, etc. do today, only now they do it by appointment in their studio... The second made photos in the Train stations, or on the street downtown; in short, anywhere they could get people to stop and wait...I have one of my two grandmother's walking down main street, all dressed up, but with shopping bags in their hands...these were about the size of a postcard and usually cost $0.25 or a little more...but that was 'real' money on those days... Between and during WW-I & II, they developed those 'photo booths' and folks could go inside and get about 1.5 inch square sepia prints @ about $1 for 5 poses...on the spot (usually about 15 minutes). They were located in all sorts of businesses like drug stores, plus all the bus or train depots for travelers...air-travel did not exist until the 1940's... >From: Richard White <rw@pone.com> >Reply-To: GEORGIA-L@rootsweb.com >To: GEORGIA-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [GEORGIA] traveling photographers in the rural South >Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 03:56:00 -0500 > > >Angela... > >I don't know it as a fact, but I'm under the impression that at least some >photographers pretty much set up a portable booth beside the street. I >don't know how much they traveled, or much of anything, actually. I just >wanted to add that my family lived pretty much between Concord, Whigham & >Cairo, and I notice that many old photos of theirs had stamped on the back: > >"Lollard's >B'ham, Ala." > >I was wondering if those photos were made in Birmingham or just developed >there... and what kind of business Lollard's was... for instance, a photo >studio... or possibly a drugstore? > >One of my grandfather White's sisters married a man named Jim Trull, who >had a fish stand that I understand to have been on the sidewalk across from >the rail depot in Cairo. He got the fish that he sold by train from south >of Tallahassee. I visualize these photographer's booths as pretty much the >same sort of thing, but I really don't kow. > >RW > >Angela B Cassidy wrote: > >>Does anyone know where I can find information on traveling photographers >>around 1895-1910 in the rural south? I'm publishing a collection of >>ancestor photos of almost an entire community in Gadsden County, FL, just >>south of the Georgia State Line, called Concord, and nicknamed >>"Coonbottom." I want to explain more about traveling photographers, how >>they made it known when they were coming to town, how much they charged, >>what kinds of clothing they brought for the subjects to wear if, for >>instance, the men didn't have a nice suit coat, how much extra they may >>have charged for clothing, that kind of thing. I want to be able to >>explain why three little boys had nice jackets on and were barefooted. >> >>Also, does anyone know why families often brought large photos in frames >>outside to be part of the family picture? You can't tell who is in them, >>but I have run across this in quite a few outdoor family photos of >>1895-1900. I'm assuming they brought their ancestors outside so they >>could be in the photo, too. >> >>Since Concord is just south of the Georgia line and Georgia was settled >>first, I expect that the photographers for my photos came from Georgia >>studios. I do have a few that say the studio was in Cairo, GA (Grady >>County). >>Thanks, >>Angela Cassidy >>Tallahassee, FL >> > > > >==== GEORGIA Mailing List ==== >NOTICE: Posting of virus warnings, test messages, chain letters, political >announcements, current events, items for sale, personal messages, flames, >etc. (in other words - spam) is NOT ALLOWED and will be grounds for >removal. >Consideration for exceptions, contact Kathleen Burnett >kathleenburnett@earthlink.net > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > _________________________________________________________________ Winterize your home with tips from MSN House & Home. http://special.msn.com/home/warmhome.armx