The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves, 1916-1936

[raydm6]

The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves, 1916-1936

https://www.postcardsfrommecca.com/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/postcards-from-mecca-california-lost-desert-pictures

 

[raydm6]

Love this one:

 

[Nitroplait]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

 

[raydm6]

From this web site which also has a few more different images:
https://www.linktv.org/shows/artbou...raphs-of-susie-keef-smith-and-lula-mae-graves

What is curious is this image which appears to be the from same negative as above (note: the specular highlights and shore wave patterns appear to be the same - at least to my eyes), but the negative etching is different. Curious and odd... ...Unless it was writing on the print/postcard?

 

[raydm6]

Some more images, deeper back-story, and info on cameras used:
https://www.palmspringslife.com/desert-history-coachella-valley/

Essential to the cousins’ liberation was the camera. Susie “made pictures,” as she put it, with a Kodak No. 3A folding pocket camera, and later a Graflex. The newly developed Graflex would become the standard for professional photographers of the era. Imagine the power of this still-novel device in the hands of a disaffected young woman on the edge of the desert frontier in the 1920s. It was the equivalent of handing an electric guitar to a teenager in the 1960s

 

[p.giannakis]

The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves, 1916-1936

https://www.postcardsfrommecca.com/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/postcards-from-mecca-california-lost-desert-pictures

Very interesting, thanks for posting that. I always enjoy reading stories like this. The last picture of the first link is quite macabre, I wonder what has happened there...

 

[KenR]

Excellent. It’s fabulous that this stuff was saved from the dumpster. How much of our history is now lost because of this kind of thing? Unfortunately, even in my own family we have albums where nobody labeled the photos so that the faces are unknown now that the previous generation is gone.

 

[TheMapleLeafForever]

Can someone remind me how they got the writing on the picture? I recall with some cameras like the Kodak Brownie Autographic there was a stylus and an opening at the back of the camera where one can write a short note.

 

[jawarden]

Can someone remind me how they got the writing on the picture? I recall with some cameras like the Kodak Brownie Autographic there was a stylus and an opening at the back of the camera where one can write a short note.

I have one of those Autographic Brownies but I think they only wrote between frames rather than what you see here. I'm also curious about the writing, which is charming.

Thanks to the OP for sharing! I enjoy stories like this.

 

[TheMapleLeafForever]

I have one of those Autographic Brownies but I think they only wrote between frames rather than what you see here. I'm also curious about the writing, which is charming.

Thanks to the OP for sharing! I enjoy stories like this.

Yes I think you're right. Also it took a special film I think which allowed you to do that.

 

[robert blu]

Pleasant and very interesting, thanks for the link

 

[KenR]

White ink

White ink

My dad did this on some photos in the WWII era with white ink. I guess it was in style. The advantage is that you can never forget where it was from or who was in the photo, which has happened to many of the old photos that I have inherited. “ Is that Grandpa or Uncle Joe in this photo” can’t happen if you write on the front or the back who everybody is - of course nobody thinks of that at the time.

 

[css9450]

I'd like to see a present day version of that Salton Sea photo. That place has some major swings, good and bad!

 

[Doug]

I'd like to see a present day version of that Salton Sea photo. That place has some major swings, good and bad!

Well, failing that, here's one of mine... The hills on the other side look similar, so the camera location must be similar.
17 June 2014; A failed RV park/resort on California’s largest lake surface 234’ below sea level. Desert Beach I think, on NE shore of Salton Sea, California. Smells like rotting fish. On this day it was windy with dust in the air.

Pentax K-3, 1.8/31mm SMCP