It is about 1928 down at the beach at Apollo Bay in southern Victoria. Relaxing in their woollen bathing costumes are brother and sisters Hazel, Enid and Charles Fricke.. All three are teachers and the time is the summer school holidays.
Holding the camera to take this photo was Charles’ friend, Vera Tansey from Castlemaine, who was later to become his fiance and then his wife. Charles was teaching in Castlemaine. Vera changed places with Enid and Enid took the next shot of Hazel, Vera and Charles.
BUT, what is that on Vera’s left shoulder ? I’m wondering if it’s some wonderful little gadget of the times for chasing away those never-ending clouds of flies.
A beach picnic was held on another day when it doesn’t appear to be quite as warm, This time Enid, Charles and Hazel are joined by their younger brother Allan, a future public servant, complete with cap. No parasols were need for protection from the sun that day.
All these photos were taken on a Kodak folding camera. which was still taking great photos in the late 1950s and was always stored in its carrying case,
Twenty years after the beach photos if you had that same Kodak and you wanted a selfie, well, you just got and length of string !
Love those ‘selfie’ photos – I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like that before.
I’m wondering if the the item on Vera’s shoulder is a decorative tassel on the handle of a parasol – I think I can see the end of the handle near Charles’ shoulder.
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Great photographs – i didn’t realise costumes were quite so revealing in the 1929s. So who is in the charming selfie – yourself and a beau?
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You guessed correctly.
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My grandfather, brother of the subject of my blog this week, had one of these cameras too.
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Very clever of them to take a “selfie”.
I have one of those camera’s and several autographic and box brownie cameras too.
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Remember those cameras — I loved to watch it fold up into itself; thought it was pretty amazing (I was about five years old, easily impressed). Great “selfie” shots!
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I love the string-selfie! I can only imagine how itchy and heavy those woolen bathings suits would be, especially when wet. Between that and the flies, a trip to the beach would have to have lots of good food involved for me to want to take part!
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My mother still had a folding camera in the 1960s though it hardly ever was used.
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Those images are very clear, and how lovely to see the old camera and its case. The photos of the young couple and their bits of string are charming – it was a very succesful mechanism.
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Clever you for spotting that string!
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I love these photos! It is so wonderful to have photos of ones ancestors, but during the time that it became easy for them to take candids, the photos are so special.
You commented on one of my photos for this Sepia Saturday. I’ve written a follow-up post on that photo.
Dee
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A full ten marks for this post! The last two are wonderful photos to treasure.
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Great photos from a great camera. There was on in our local flea market last week, going for £70 – I was nearly tempted to buy it.
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