Interesting old photos

The Greatest

Thomas Hoepker

This is one of the most famous, and striking, photos in all cinema. It's of Greta Garbo, a still taken while filming the final scene of Rouben Mamoulian's Queen Christina. Mamoulian asked GG to empty her head and think of nothing, and the result is  this combination of the imperious and the enigmatic.

Here, taken in about the 1860s, is a photo of the infamous slums on The Strand, in London.

This is Twine Court, near to today's Shadwell DLR station; in the 1870s, when this picture was taken, it was one of the capital's most notorious slums.

Believe it or not, this is what Kensington looked like in the early 1860s:

superb photos Kuma, a pleaseure looking at them

and yet, you can write in as many times you want...

Actually, the first one of those photos reminded me of the final scenes, in the movie theatre, in Inglorious bastards, by Quentin Tarantino.

I used to think of the film as too comic-y, but...

Tien An Men Square. 4 June 1989. 5.00 pm. As daylight was breaking, tanks advanced and began running over tents, killing the people inside.

Koichi Imaeda

I can still recall the TV footage of the tank being stopped by a singe person standing in front of the tank and not moving, forcing the tank to re think.

Very powerful image

Originally Posted by Kevin-W:

she aged beautifully. Here, Garbo at 46. Without all that Hollywood Maxfactor® make up, she looks fresher and more attractive.
But this is the definitive Steichen shot done in 1928. ( Garbo at 23 )

Brooklyn Bridge ca. 1900

Atlantic City 1904

Buffalo, NY 1905

One of the greatest tragedies of the legacy of Robert Moses was the destruction of the old Penn Station in NYC. seen here in  1910

Those are stunning! The balancing of ambient and flash light in some of shots is really impressive. Would love to have seen the set in action at the time. 

Back in the early 1970s, my home turf (since 1989 anyway) of SW12 was very much seen as a "black" area, rather than the vibrant, upwardly mobile and mixed area beloved of wanky estate agents it is today.

This famous shot, taken in Balham by the Jamaican photographer Neil Kenlock is a great piece of storytelling, which says an enormous amount about South London in 1972. I love the slightly bemused look on the girl's face.

The building and doorway are still there, although it's no longer "The employment agency of the Martin Luther King Foundation". The graffiti, thank goodness, has not lasted as long as the building.

I would love to know where this woman is now, and what she's doing. She'd be in her 60s now, I guess.

Kuma, I know what you mean about the pic of GG without make-up, but the Steichen is the one that still grabs me.

The great Elliot Erwitt took this shot in Hyde Park in 1978. You used to see these guys everywhere in London 30 or 40 years ago, you hardly ever see them anymore, except at Brixton Tube station.

Al Vandenberg took this shot of a disaffected-looking girl with a portable cassette recorder in London in 1975. My guess is that a year later she probably became a punk.

I have vague memories of my grandparents taking me to Petticoat Lane market in the late 1960s. It was a very crowded, noisy place, full of people shouting as far as I can remember.

It would have been also full of real characters, like this gentleman at his crockery stall, snapped by the Czech exile Milon Novotny in 1966. It's a part of London life that's largely vanished now, more's the pity:

Last one from me for today. A really, really scary London bus clippie. Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson took this in 1960. Don't have nightmares!

Nice images Kevin.

THey evoke some really stong memories.

The racial image reminds me of when i got caught in the riots and i think it was pc kieth blakelock was murdered

Difficult times

Balham certainly has changed since the late 60's, a great sense of togetherness  mostly with a dangerous undertow. Most time all I saw was whites attacking each other or throwing each other out of The Bedfords windows.

Here's the Balham Odeon in 1937. It;'s still here, but now it's a Majestic Wine Warehouse: