Favourite obscure photographs

[Better Midlands]

My sister would have killed for that Naf Naf sweatshirt around 86/87 - probably worth a bit on Depop/Vinted in good condition right now.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Obviously smoking loads of tabs was an intrinsic part of the Teddy Boy look.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My sister would have killed for that Naf Naf sweatshirt around 86/87 - probably worth a bit on Depop/Vinted in good condition right now.

The best part of that photo is that while it isn't a photo that involves my parents, I am able to recognise the elbow and blue stripey shirt in the background on the right as my dad.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I'm more impressed by the fact that two of the parents are Willie Thorne. Is that even physically possible? Maybe he was a pan dimensional being.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm more impressed by the fact that two of the parents are Willie Thorne. Is that even physically possible? Maybe he was a pan dimensional being.

Everyone looked like Willie Thorne back then! They were probably still in their 30's and all.

[imitationleather]

They were probably still in their 30's and all.

So was Willie Thorne, and back then he was the most Willie Thorne-looking of all!

[Sebastian Cobb]

That's why I said 'and all', still can't really believe he was about 32 in Snooker Loopy.

[holyzombiejesus]

Bruce Davidson - Girl Holding Kitten (1960).


Really like this but it's not really obscure. Many years after taking it, Davidson, unsuccessfully, tried to trace the girl.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/25/us-photographer-seeks-british-girl

[holyzombiejesus]

Also, from the 'photographers you like' thread...

I first heard about Gordon Parks because of an article about him in The Observer and there's just something I love so much about this photo. Something so so sad but beautiful too.

[Zetetic]

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I won't post it, but my favourite obscure photograph is the internet famous one of the man dressed in lingerie with his willy stuck in a car exhaust, as nobody knows who it is and where it was taken. Who is he? Is he still alive? Who is taking the photograph? If he apparently enjoys fucking cars, why does he look so unhappy? Truly the Mona Lisa of our age.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I won't post it, but my favourite obscure photograph is the internet famous one of the man dressed in lingerie with his willy stuck in a car exhaust, as nobody knows who it is and where it was taken. Who is he? Is he still alive? Who is taking the photograph? If he apparently enjoys fucking cars, why does he look so unhappy? Truly the Mona Lisa of our age.

It's the 'tennis lady scratching her arse' of the internet age I reckon. Objectively poor photography, but such a reach.

[Butchers Blind]

So was Willie Thorne, and back then he was the most Willie Thorne-looking of all!

Is that from the 'Best of Friends' book?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Bruce Davidson - Girl Holding Kitten (1960).


Really like this but it's not really obscure. Many years after taking it, Davidson, unsuccessfully, tried to trace the girl.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/25/us-photographer-seeks-british-girl

Not seen it before but it's fantastic.

[Neomod]

They were generally about 13-18, the girls looked great too

These Ken Russell shots aren't really obscure are they?

Superb but not really obscure.

[C_Larence]

I'm reminded of a recent twitter thread of photos of Something Awful goons. Some truly astounding pictures in there, but I wonder if in a decade they'll seem cool?
https://twitter.com/lumpythecook/status/1313531300721164290?s=21







maybe not

[jamiefairlie]

What's the (I think it's a woman) doing in the background? A yawn, a gurn, or is that her natural resting facial expression?

She's screaming "there's people dying up here La!"

[jamiefairlie]

I love Hugh Hood's photos of 70s Glasgow. We'd take the train into the city occasionally when I was a kid and it was so black and sooty, with derelict buildings and empty wasteland everywhere. Felt like The Blitz thirty years after the event.

[holyzombiejesus]

I won't post it, but my favourite obscure photograph is the internet famous one of the man dressed in lingerie with his willy stuck in a car exhaust, as nobody knows who it is and where it was taken. Who is he? Is he still alive? Who is taking the photograph? If he apparently enjoys fucking cars, why does he look so unhappy? Truly the Mona Lisa of our age.

I think it was originally from The Sunday Sport.

[holyzombiejesus]

Not seen it before but it's fantastic.

I first saw it at an exhibition called Strange and Familiar, which was ..."Curated by iconic British photographer Martin Parr, the exhibition considered how international photographers from the 1930s onwards captured the social, cultural & political identity of the UK". It also featured these photos which, whilst undeniably striking, I thought were pretty fucking nasty.

[holyzombiejesus]

I love Hugh Hood's photos of 70s Glasgow. We'd take the train into the city occasionally when I was a kid and it was so black and sooty, with derelict buildings and empty wasteland everywhere. Felt like The Blitz thirty years after the event.

Have you seen Chris Leslie's work Disappearing Glasgow?

https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/city-arts-tour/glasgow/disappearing-glasgow

He did a book but like the Strange and Familiar one mentioned above, it's rocketed in value. extortionate (£117) on amazon to the extent that I pulled it off my shelf ready to list on ebay, only to find that copies sell on there for less than a tenner.

[Menu]

I won't post it, but my favourite obscure photograph is the internet famous one of the man dressed in lingerie with his willy stuck in a car exhaust, as nobody knows who it is and where it was taken. Who is he? Is he still alive? Who is taking the photograph? If he apparently enjoys fucking cars, why does he look so unhappy? Truly the Mona Lisa of our age.

Never heard of it.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Expert cropping of the cock/exhaust infiltration. Bravo.

[Menu]

Thanks, mate!

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

I've posted this before but I love this photo showing my maternal grandfather (born 1896) as a young boy standing next to his father (seated centre), an apparently roguish publican, surrounded by his cronies in the back yard of his pub.

[Better Midlands]

I've posted this before but I love this photo showing my maternal grandfather (born 1896) as a young boy standing next to his father (seated centre), an apparently roguish publican, surrounded by his cronies in the back yard of his pub.

Lovely turned out gents, where would that have been taken Voltan?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Have you seen Chris Leslie's work Disappearing Glasgow?

https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/city-arts-tour/glasgow/disappearing-glasgow

He did a book but like the Strange and Familiar one mentioned above, it's rocketed in value. extortionate (£117) on amazon to the extent that I pulled it off my shelf ready to list on ebay, only to find that copies sell on there for less than a tenner.

Sounds intriguing, might take a punt on that if it's less than a 10 spot.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Lovely turned out gents, where would that have been taken Voltan?

Yes, looks like a sharp-dressed bunch of gents. I don't know for sure but in the early 1900s my great-grandfather ran a pub called the Graisley Cottage Inn (long gone of course) in the Graiseley area of Wolverhampton so I suspect the photo was taken there.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Double post.

[touchingcloth]

These aren't all particularly obscure, but I come back to this gallery of large format Kodachromes quite often because I love the look of them and the eras they depict as much as the quality of the photographs. There are a few in there short for the US Office of War Information in the 40s and 50s by Jack Delano - better known for his work in black & white - which is a bit like having the Tory party security pass headshots done by Annie Liebovitz.







shorpy.com/Large_Format_Kodachromes