Group Shot

Julia Gaines
This photo was found last week when they finally got to the bottom of the pile of papers on Stanley Wolfson's old desk. The assignment came to shape when Stanley got hold of Mitch Freedman's beat notes on a woman in Montauk upset that gentlemen were swimming in only their bathing tunics with no leggings. Their ankles were fully exposed! Stanley contacted the woman and told her to tell all her neighbors and relatives and anyone she'd ever met in her entire life to meet the photographer at 9am outside the local church for a group shot. When the photographer arrived, expecting only the original upset woman, all the ladies begged the photographer to wait for the 145 other protesting citizens to arrive, but by 4pm, only 140 more had assembled and the sun was going down and the photographer had to take the photo because there was a deadline. The photographer returned to Alicia Patterson's Hempstead garage and worked in the darkroom for several hours. The finished print was placed on Stanley's desk where someone covered it with a pretzel bag and a box of paper clips and two thousand other photographs. It was not seen for 113 years.

Okay, I bought this photograph in an antique shop in Columbia, South Carolina. At the bottom of the photo I found what I was looking for--the embossed surname of my great grandfather and his brother, partners in a photography studio in Columbia in the 1890's. Their subjects were the buildings around the city, class pictures, and portraits of prominent townspeople. I don't know whether it was my great grandfather or his brother who clicked the shutter on this particular photo. I like looking at the fashions and individual faces--some pretty, some plain and some downright strange. I was amused to notice that the chair supporting a woman in the back row (far right) was visible. Maybe an oversight of the photographer due to deadline constraints? That wouldn't be anything new.