10 Fabulous Vintage Selfies

Oxford Dictionaries announced that selfie as their international Word of the Year 2013. The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of interest during the year to date. Language research conducted by Oxford Dictionaries editors reveals that the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year.

Although Robert Cornelius was not making duck faces in the 1800s, he is responsible for the first daguerreotype and the first documented self portrait. So think of old Cornelius next time you're angling your limbs to perfect the skinny arm. Take a step back in time and witness the true pioneers of the selfie, before Photoshop was even a flicker of code.

1800s

1890

1900s

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1930

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Portraits of Fisherwomen in the Past

Three Scottish herring girls knitting whilst waiting for the arrival of the fishing fleet at Great Yarmouth in England, 1929. Thousands of women travel from Scotland to Great Yarmouth to process the catch during the autumn herring season. (Photo by Topical Press Agency)

A Sami woman wearing a thick fur coat fishes through a hole on an icy expanse in Alaska, circa 1950. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions)

A group of Japanese skin divers or “Amas” prepare for a day's work near the small fishing village of Onjuku in the Chiba prefecture of Japan, August 1959. Stripped to the waist, they will fill their tubs with the seaweed they harvest. (Photo by Keystone Features)

Fisherwoman Storsely Manner of Rye Beach, New Hampshire, who fishes for lobster off the New England coast, supplying many restaurants in New York, circa 1950. (Photo by Hulton Archive)

The Queen Mother (1900–2002) fishes for rainbow trout on the banks of the Waikato River in Auckland. 29th April 1966. (Photo by Central Press)

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50 Fascinating Vintage Photographs That Capture Street Scenes of Paris at the Turn of the 20th Century

Eugène Atget was a French photographer noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris. An inspiration for the surrealists and other artists, his work gained wide attention only after his death.

He picked up photography in the late 1880s, around the time that photography was experiencing unprecedented expansion in both commercial and amateur fields. He would go on to enter the commercial field with his photos; he sold photos of landscapes, flowers, and other pleasantries to other artists. It wasn’t until 1897 that he started a project he would continue for the rest of his life-his Old Paris collection.

He photographed Paris with a large-format wooden bellows camera with a rapid rectilinear lens. The images were exposed and developed as 18x24cm glass dry plates.

Between 1897 and 1927 he captured the old Paris in his pictures. His photographs show the city in its various facets: narrow lanes and courtyards in the historic city center with its old buildings, of which some were soon to be demolished, magnificent palaces from the period before the French Revolution, bridges and quays on the banks of the Seine, and shops with their window displays. He photographed stairwells and architectural details on the façades and took pictures of the interiors of apartments. His interest also extended to the environs of Paris.

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Yearbook photos of Rock and Heavy Metal icons

Take a look at these yearbook portraits of Rock and Heavy Metal icons, there’s hardly a hint of rock ‘n’ roll rebellion, or future excess, just the appearance of wannabe Wal-Mart employees of the month.

Top row: Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Tom Morello (RATM), Tom Araya (Slayer), Alice Cooper, Axl Rose (Guns ‘n’ Roses), Corey Taylor (Slipknot).

Middle row: Daron Malakian (SOAD), Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen), Gene Simmons (Liss), James Hetfield (Metallica), Jonathan Davis (Korn).

Bottom row: Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Marilyn Manson, Slash (Guns ‘n’ Roses), Steve Tyler (Aerosmith), Zakk Wylde (BLS).

(via Dangerous Minds)

Keith Richards in Paris, 1978

Keith Richards in Paris, recording Some Girls, 1978.

Photo by Helmut Newton.

Streets of New York, circa 1980s

(Photos by Lis Lis)

Vintage Posters of Soviet Police

A selection of 24 vintage Soviet posters from between the 1950s and 1980s.

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