The casual poses of the men in the prompt photo made me think immediately of this photograph of my Uncle Ken and his NZ Air Force mates. I've featured it before so I will just refer you to what I said about it back then, in my tribute to Ken which you can find here, if you didn't already read or don't remember it. Ken is on the right, smoking not drinking, but I think there's a similarity all the same. Suffice to say, all four were killed in World War 2.
I haven't found a lot of casual photos in my albums, but the next one sort of fits the bill. The label just says 'Cass, 1945' which does not mean much to me, but I think these men could be Air Force trainees, possibly out on some exercise in the Cass area in Canterbury NZ, because they look to be wearing khaki. My lanky father Ian Cruickshank is on the far right. He and another fellow are pulling on a rope, perhaps as a way to manoeuvre a pile of wood? The others less than helpfully have their feet up on the pile, and generally look either cheerful or bemused. Conscription was in force in New Zealand during World War 2, and while Ian was at university and luckily didn't have to serve overseas, he did serve 133 days within NZ in the Air Force before being discharged in 1945. He was 21 when the war ended, a year younger than Ken would have been, had he not been killed 2 years earlier.
To even things up between the sexes, here are a couple of my mother and her friends, one at the beach and one more formal at a wedding, but still having fun. Again these photos are from the 1940s.
| Jean standing above her friends, who are skylarking on the rocks and sand at Piha Beach near Auckland NZ.The girl on the right has something in her right hand, but it's not a bottle or a cigarette packet, I'm sure. |
| Let them eat cake! Jean is at far left, and the bride Margaret is second from right. The lady in the centre could be her mother, because she looks older and is not named in Jean's album. The other three were good friends of Jean, and I think Colleen, the lady in front on the right, is the same person who is wearing shorts in the other photo. They all look to be enjoying a happy occasion. Here's a fun link to finish, even if it is an advertisement for Irish whiskey : http://youtu.be/h81oiF7VIOw Pretty short and sweet from me this week, but for more poses, casual or otherwise from other Sepians, just click here. |
16 comments:
Perfect pictures, perfect length! Gloriously casual poses and I love the word skylarking, we should use it more often; it sums up the men in the prompt picture too!
I like the pose in the first photo--the men are leaning and supporting each other at the same time.
I like the way the men are casually leaning in the first photograph too.
I'm thrilled with both your men and women's photos...it makes me think folks in NZ in the 40s had a good life...and I do hope so!
Love these old photos and the stories to go with them.
Skylarking!! A new word for me. I love it.
What a sad story accompanying that first photo of the four Air Force friends. Thank goodness you brightened my mood with the girls skylarking (yep, new word for me too).
Skylarking, I like that one too. A good set of photographs!
Yep - I like all the photos - though the one of the girls on the beach grabbed me the most.
They are all great photos but I particularly liked the last one - pretty dresses, pretty hairdos and daintily eating cake with a cake fork.
such wonderful poses in all your photos and great way to honour our war servicemen - Lest We Forget
Poses not to be forgotten. So different from what we see nowadays.
You've uses the theme well to group together some photos from your family albums. I enjoyed the read.
What great casual photos! How sobering to know all those young men died in the war. The Air Force seemed to be the "sexy" branch, but their mortality rate was horrendous. I was amused by one group pulling on the logs and the others propping their feet up on it.
I've only just realised - we both used "skylarking" -must be a mind-association with the era.
A wonderful medley, from sad to sweet. Learning the fate of the four mates makes it a very special memory.
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