My 1950 Photography: Three Shots Out of Eight


 My 1950 Photography

Three Shots Out of Eight

One day in 1950 I borrowed my mother's Kodak Brownie camera and shot the eight pictures that a roll of 616 film accommodated.  Three of them survive in an album I have.
 
Our backyard was planted heavily with roses, Mom's favorite flower. I encourage my baby brother Michael to sniff one blossom and I snapped this staged event...
 

 Then an action shot of our dog Patches making an escape from the yard...
 

 And my favorite, a picture of my Dad planting a rosebush...
 
I was proud of my photographic success, but there's a problem here.  Look closely and you will see that the photo of Dad planting has a different aspect ratio, that is, shape,  than the other two pictures.  Is it really from my roll of 616 film?  The ratio of height to width of the other two photos match the standards for the 616 film format that I find online; Dad's picture is too short.  But looking again at Patches fence leap,  Dad's newly built fencing is there, the shadows show the same timing and light,  the new rose bushes are the same size, and Dad's groundcloth and bucket are there...


I believe that the print in my album was cut off at the top.  This is my favorite picture of my father; I have to believe that I took it myself seventy-two years ago.
 

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