Vintage Everyday

May 7, 2012

27 Fascinating Color Photographs Capture the Groovy ‘70s in the United States

May 07, 2012 1970s, fashion & clothing, life, life & culture, people, Pittsburgh, street

How was life in the States when The Godfather was on in cinemas and hippies were roaming the streets? If you want to get a taste and a feel of an era or a decade, then a good place to start is to take a look at photos of normal everyday folk of the time. In this post we’re going across the pond and back to the seventies.

These pictures are from a photo collection called The Seventies. The majority of them were taken on the streets of Pittsburgh – where photographer Bill Rizzo lived...

Color Photographs of Russian Cities From Between the 1960s and 1980s

May 07, 2012 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, life & culture, people, Russia & Soviet Union, street

These are some color photographs of Leningrad, Odessa, Kiev, Sverdlovsk, Perm dated 1968-84.

May 6, 2012

Pink Floyd Live in Frankfurt, 1977

May 06, 2012 1970s, Frankfurt, Germany, music

Amazing Photographs Capture Daily Life in Newcastle in the 19th Century

May 06, 2012 1800s, England, life & culture, Newcastle, people, street

The city of Newcastle Upon Tyne was founded at the lowest place the Tyne could be easily crossed. In 1080 the Normans built a wooden fort to safeguard the crossing. They also erected a wooden bridge. (The 'new castle' was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century). Soon a little town grew up in the shadow of the new castle and was named after it. In the Middle Ages towns often grew up by castles because the garrisons provided a market for the townspeople's goods.

Medieval Newcastle prospered partly because of the wars between the English and the Scots. There was much traffic through Newcastle and travelers spent money there.

In 1801, at the time of the first census Newcastle Upon Tyne had a population of 28,000. It grew rapidly. The population of Newcastle reached 53,000 in 1831. The boundaries were extended in 1835 to include Byker, Westgate, Elswick, Jesmond and Heaton. The population of the borough reached over 87,000 in 1851. By 1901 it had risen to 215,000.

In the years 1825-1840 the centre of Newcastle was rebuilt. This was mostly the work of three men, John Dobson, an architect, Richard Grainger, a builder and John Clayton the town clerk. All three have streets named after them.

Like all 19th century cities, Newcastle was dirty and unsanitary as seen in these rare and amazing photographs below:

Quayside, possibly near the Fish Market, fish seller and small crowd gathered around.

Black Gate, looking northwards towards St Nicholas Cathedral, 1886

Black Gate, close-up of the gateway with a woman leaning against a shop doorway, 1880

Castle Garth, looking towards St Nicholas Cathedral from the corner of Dog Leap Stairs 1881

Castle Garth Stairs, (site of many clogmakers shops), looking towards the Castle Keep, 1881

May 3, 2012

40 Candid Photographs Capture New York City Subway Passengers From the Late 1930s and Early 1940s

May 03, 2012 1930s, 1940s, life & culture, New York, people, portraits, traffic & transport

As photographic technology advanced—cameras became more portable and film more sensitive to light, requiring shorter exposure times—people were no longer required to stay still for pictures. Walker Evans was among the photographers who capitalized on this flexibility. Between 1938 and 1941, he took his camera underground, where he photographed subway riders in New York City. “The guard is down and the mask is off,” he wrote, “even more than when in lone bedrooms (where there are mirrors). People’s faces are in naked repose down in the subway.”

In order to discreetly capture these candid Subway Portraits, Evans came up with an undercover method of taking photographs. He concealed his 35-millimeter Contax camera by painting its shiny chrome parts black and hiding it under his topcoat, with only its lens peeking out between two buttons. He rigged its shutter to a cable release, whose chord snaked down his sleeve and into the palm of his hand, which he kept buried in his pocket.

For extra assurance, he asked his friend and fellow photographer Helen Levitt to join him on his subway shoots, believing that his activities would be less noticeable if he was accompanied by someone. With these methods, Evans managed to capture people immersed in conversation, reading, or seemingly lost in their own thoughts and moods. His subjects’ faces display a range of emotions. He also succeeded in accomplishing a difficult challenge in making truly unposed portraits.