The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Although the face is mostly obscured, the 'mother' in the background still reminds me too much of 'Laffin' Sal' for comfort (c.f., the Papier-Mache' Nippers thread).

John M

I also wondered about the poor contition of the phono. Dating the furniture, dress and phonograph could put you in the 1906 -1915 range. Lots of poorer people delayed upgrading thier phonos to four min players for a long time. You would think though that the phono and horn would be in better condition. Regarding the odd, disconnected angle of the horn it may be indicitive that they posed for the picture and moved it out of the way. Impromptu picture taking seemed uncommon back then.

One thing that could explain the poor condition of the phono is that these things were often kept in very poor contitions used outside etcetera. Look at this one for example, a phono being used in a photo outside a sod house. Storage in the sod house, beiing left outside all day, getting knocked off the flimsy table by the wind, could not have made it easy to keep the phono in great condition.

Somehow, the phonograph seems to be in sharper focus than the rest of the photo...perhaps just a short focal length? Also, how the heck is this horn (while not attached to the reproducer) suspended? From the ceiling? From the "pole" obscuring mother/grandma?

Not to pick nits, but the short depth of field could be achieved with a lens of longer focal length (not shorter), a larger aperture setting (smaller f-number), or a combination of the two.

John M

Ooops, sorry, you're right...I was confusing focal length and depth of field. It's been a while since I used a camera with removable lenses