The Sepia Saturday prompt photo this week shows three babies and their mothers, lined up for an English baby show in 1938. Hopefully baby shows are no longer in vogue, although there are baby photo competitions people can enter if they are so inclined. Every baby is beautiful in the eyes of his or her parents, and the job of judging them must have been fraught with danger.
Below is a photo created from my late father-in-law Bob Featherston's collection of negatives. The two children are toddlers rather than babies, and the photo must have been taken in about 1947, the year that Mary, Bob's wife-to be, arrived in Australia as a war bride, but unfortunately she doesn't remember who the mothers were. I don't believe they were related to Bob, but they may have been neighbours of either his mother Eleanor or his aunt Dulce, as there are similar photographs taken when Bob and Mary were visiting family in Geelong. It would be a nice photo if not for the fact that the mothers' heads have been cut off, but in that respect it is also a match with the prompt.
Next a couple of snaps of our older daughter Claire with some of her playgroup friends, enjoying the sunshine at a picnic outing to Sydney's Centennial Park in mid 1980, and with friend Andrew sitting on the slippery-dip in cooler weather on another park outing. Sad to say, we moved to another part of Sydney and over the years I lost touch with the mothers, so I have no idea what these three boys are up to these days, but like Claire, they may well be parents themselves by now.
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| A supporting hand is the only evidence of a mother here, just in case, sitting being a skill only recently learnt by these 6 month olds. |
Finally two photos from a couple of years ago, showing Claire's daughter Isabelle and two of her little friends dressed up in cute outfits for a Halloween party, and the whole group out of costume, lined up on the couch. There is a set of twins in the group, and surprisingly only one boy out of the nine. The mothers are not shown here either, but no doubt they were hovering close by.
Our granddaughter Isabelle in her catsuit on the right of this shot
And she is third from left in this lineup - I think!
That's all I have to offer this week, but if you fancy being the judge of more baby lineups, just check out Sepia Saturday #331
7 comments:
What adorable photographs - and to get 9 babies sitting still in a row is some achievement!
Great pictures! And I agree with ScotSue - the photographer must have had a quick shutter!
Charming all. The last string of babes is a winner.
I have many photos with heads cut off of one or another of the subjects --0 I always blamed it on the camera. The pics were great, but I giggled at the little one squished into the corner of the sofa. A cutie.
They’ll never line up so neatly again! I love the mother’s fingertip control as well.
Your last shot of nine (count them) babies is pretty amazing. Just getting three to sit still and be happy can be a challenge for photographers. Thanks for sharing!
I can't take any credit for that - the couch lineup and the previous shot were taken by daughter Claire I believe.
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