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Classic Victorian style portrait of a girl, sometime before the year 1900. Classic Victorian because the new art that was photography was still greatly influenced by many centuries of painted portraits. Back then, at the photographer's studio there usually were many painted backdrops and accessories to choose from depending on the desired composition and end result.
When no flash powder was used, it meant the exposure time indoor was one second or more. So that was a limiting factor for the number of possible poses, and it was best not to smile because any movement of the face would cause a blur. The price of a similar portrait was probably pretty expensive but not as much as if the photographer had to bring all his heavy gear to your home, not to mention that the flash powder had a strong persistent smell and was a huge fire hazard.
Original monochrome picture HERE
Althea Gibson, shows Jackie Robinson her backhand grip (Feb 1951)
This was at an indoor exhibition. Gibson apparently played a short mixed doubles match with Robinson as her partner.
Original monochrome picture HERE
Betty Ann Stuart shows off the "Watch it" (Wimbledon 1979)
I'm not sure what was behind the "Watch it" except her cheeks.
I guess it was a sarcastic way to make fun of all the superficial attention given to the female player's underwear in the past.
I bet it never occurred to her that "Watch it" sounds exactly like "What Sh**".
Note: I usually discard grainy images like this because too often it's full of JPEG artifacts, but not here. It's looking like the grain from a 35ml film at 400 ISO or more (at that time it was called ASA until 1987). Black & and white films were widely used at sports event since that was how it was published in the newspapers. It was also much faster and cheaper to process than color negatives.
When no flash powder was used, it meant the exposure time indoor was one second or more. So that was a limiting factor for the number of possible poses, and it was best not to smile because any movement of the face would cause a blur. The price of a similar portrait was probably pretty expensive but not as much as if the photographer had to bring all his heavy gear to your home, not to mention that the flash powder had a strong persistent smell and was a huge fire hazard.
Original monochrome picture HERE
Althea Gibson, shows Jackie Robinson her backhand grip (Feb 1951)
This was at an indoor exhibition. Gibson apparently played a short mixed doubles match with Robinson as her partner.
Original monochrome picture HERE
Betty Ann Stuart shows off the "Watch it" (Wimbledon 1979)
I'm not sure what was behind the "Watch it" except her cheeks.
I guess it was a sarcastic way to make fun of all the superficial attention given to the female player's underwear in the past.
I bet it never occurred to her that "Watch it" sounds exactly like "What Sh**".
Note: I usually discard grainy images like this because too often it's full of JPEG artifacts, but not here. It's looking like the grain from a 35ml film at 400 ISO or more (at that time it was called ASA until 1987). Black & and white films were widely used at sports event since that was how it was published in the newspapers. It was also much faster and cheaper to process than color negatives.