Mystery boy

My husband found some old negatives in a shoe box recently. We scanned them in to try to identify the pictures.

Old negatives being what they are, though, the little boy in this photograph is so overexposed there's no way of knowing who it could be. We have our suspicions, but with my husband's grandparents gone, we may never know for sure.

I like to think someone was trying out a new camera and went outside on a hot summer day. The toddler was running around. Cars being somewhat of a novelty, the photographer may have wanted to make this prized possession the subject of the photo. But the little boy was eager to see what the photographer was doing. "Whatsat?" he might have asked, grabbing at the camera with his Georgia-clay-gritted hands. "Stand right there, son," the photographer might have said. Toddlers don't stand still, though. And standing next to the black car, the boy's paleness reflected the bright afternoon sunshine, and the camera captured a halo around him. Photographs were expensive, but this was just a test photo, anyway -- and how did you get a decent picture out of this new-fangled thing, anyway?

(Come to think of it, this story could have been mine with my digital camera last year!)

I love a mystery as much as the next person, but when it comes to family history, this one is really going to bug us! That's why you can bet I'll be labeling and organizing our current photos.

Just in case, in 80 years, somebody cares.

And doesn't want to make up a story about the photo!




Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek