November 14, 1917. "New York Telephone." A service flag denoting 1,009 telephone employees in the armed forces. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection. From 1917, a New York Times article on service flags.

July 4, 1922. Takoma Park, Maryland. "Fourth of July celebration." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

1955 was the height of Davy Crockett mania, and while I never got a coonskin cap, I was as wrapped up in it as most kids of the time, hence the "Dying at the Alamo" concept of this shot. Didn't have any arrows, so I had to improvise with that twig. My eye patch, which I was forced to wear in an unsuccessful attempt to deal with my "lazy eye" condition, sort of adds to the effect. (It was unsuccessful because I kept cheating by peeling it up so I could read my comic books.) I think that was an official Boy Scout canteen, but I don't know where we got it, since neither of us were in the Scouts. Sharp-eyed camera bugs will notice my brother used fill flash with this Kodachrome; he'd borrowed or rented a fancy electronic flash unit.

September 1862. Antietam, Maryland. "Confederate soldier who after being wounded had evidently dragged himself to a little ravine on the hillside where he died." Wet plate glass negative by Alexander Gardner. View full size.

New York, 1908. "Old church on 48th Street." Studebaker Garage, a former Christian Science house of worship, at 143 West 48th Street. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

November 1913. Beaumont, Texas. "Hard work and dangerous. River-boy Lyman Frugia poles the heavy logs into the incline that takes them up to the mill. It is not only hard work, but he is exposed to all kinds of weather and is dangerous too. Said he is 14 years old, has worked here several months, gets one dollar a day. Miller & Vidor Lumber Company." View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.

New York. February 27, 1917. "Examining naval volunteers." View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Library of Congress.

"Rasch dancing." The Viennese ballerina and choreographer Albertina Rasch circa 1915. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection glass negative.

New York, July 22, 1918. "B.V.D. Valentine." The family at an American Red Cross event. George Grantham Bain Collection glass negative. View full size.

Proof positive that my brother and I both fell victim to a similar strange mania at the age of 18. Here, in 1955, a senior in high school and fooling around with his newly-acquired Lordox 35mm camera, he snapped this Kodachrome self-portrait at his desk in our bedroom. Nine years later when I was 18, I shot my records, including the same Shostakovich album, spread out in our living room, as seen here. By that time, "I Like Jazz," a Columbia Records sampler, was no longer around. Posted with my brother's kind acquiescence. View full size.

California, 1943. "Calisthenics at Manzanar War Relocation Center." Medium format nitrate negative by Ansel Adams. Library of Congress. View full size.

This is me on a swing at a motel in either Maryland or Delaware sometime in the mid-1970s. It was likely taken by my father, whose shadow appears in the photo, too. I really like this photo -- the sun, the motel architecture (is that an oxymoron?), the photographer's shadow, and especially the red and white pool umbrella. Doesn't it all just scream 1970s? View full size.

Method 1: Make use of your poise, balance and coordination.
Method 2: Lacking any of those, make use of your big sister.
A pair of Kodachromes shot by my brother on our lawn in 1955. View full size.

The Atwater Kent radio factory in Philadelphia in 1928 or 1929. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

New York, December 1911. "Mrs. Lucy Libertine and family: Johnnie, 4 years old; Mary, 6 years; Millie, 9 years, picking nuts in the basement tenement, 143 Hudson Street. Mary was standing in the open mouth of the bag holding the cracked nuts (to be picked), with her dirty street shoes on, and using a huge dirty jackknife. On the right is the cobbler's bench used by shoemaker in this room. They live in dark inner bedrooms, and filth abounds in all the room and in the dark, damp entry." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.