VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM OLD SPITALFIELDS MARKET

Friday 30 March 2012


The new section of my wall I've just put up. I took a trip to Old Spitalfields Market on a whim, and was fairly unimpressed by what was on offer - I don't know whether this was the particular day I visited on (Sunday) but it seemed like there was an awful lot of repetition of stalls and what was on offer. However I'm giving it another visit tomorrow for the antiques and vintage market.

I bought these from the only truly vintage stall in the entire market. The clothes were a little overpriced, as were the (admittedly beautiful) old cameras - he was selling a camera I have in my collection for over £50, whereas I picked it up for under £10. However he had boxes and boxes of these vintage photographs, which I felt were worth getting. Searching through, there was a lot of relatively boring photographs but these caught my eye. The portrait is from 1892, which shows the quality of the developing methods back then! There's a waterfall, a very eerie picture of a graveyard, a photo of a little boy who looks exactly like my dad as a child (I found another photograph of the same boy, a little older, in a box round the corner) and people riding an elephant. The baby I initially thought was a Victorian post-death portrait, but soon noticed the baby was definitely alive, just very awkwardly placed!

I love the thought that these pictures were taken, owned and loved in print by someone else first, as a memento of their lover, their son, their baby, a special holiday, a unique experience, or a reminder. I'll keep and treasure them as a reminder to try and make my own photographs something special to keep.

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