Wednesday, 28 February 2018

The age of grace and tolerance


You can tell how long ago I took this photo. The buildings behind her are still covered in the soot from Victorian coal fires.

I was walking about with a vintage bellows camera which probably pre-dated the lady, when I saw her and thought how nice she looked. I went up to her and asked her if she would mind if I took her picture.

"Oh no," she said, "People are always asking to take my photo. I don't know why."

She noticed me smoking and said that although she had never smoked herself, she liked seeing men smoke and enjoyed the smell of tobacco.

They don't make them like her anymore. All the stone buildings are clean and Bath is a smoke-free zone.
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28 comments:

  1. The Weaver of Grass28 February 2018 at 02:37

    For several minutes I though she had a mask over the bottom half of her face, under her dark glasses.

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  2. Rachel Phillips28 February 2018 at 02:46

    She is wearing a lovely light coloured hat. It is a great contrast to the black shaft of her dress, the black buildings, and the contrast of the black of the sunglasses to the hat, All in all a good photograph. I think I have seen it before but I like seeing it again.

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    1. Tom Stephenson28 February 2018 at 02:52

      I don't think I have ever scanned this photo before, but I may have done. I think the photo is terrible, but she looks good.

      Delete
  3. Tom Stephenson28 February 2018 at 02:54

    She would be about 125 years old now if she were still alive.

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  4. Britta28 February 2018 at 03:34

    A lovely Lady! She wears a smile - that shows (as her remark about smoking) that she is happilyy accepting life.
    In Berlin nowadays you seldom find all the gray old buildings that gave forty years ago the city-impression - I liked the gray, as I like black-and-white photography. Nowadays they clean and paint everything in a candy-colors - and the elderly ladies (but men too) let doctors pump up their faces to lifeless masks.

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:18

      I too hate the trend of painting 1960s buildings 'children's' colours in Germany.

      Delete
  5. Joanne Noragon28 February 2018 at 05:48

    I think she is stately. As slender and straight as the rails behind her. And the kind smile Brigitta saw.

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  6. Jacqueline @ HOME28 February 2018 at 05:56

    That's a bit of a random post for you Tom .... did you just come across the photograph ? She looks an interesting woman ..... I like it when older people dress up .... how old do you think she was there ? XXXX

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:19

      Yes, just saw the photo. I think she was in her 80s.

      Delete
  7. Cro Magnon28 February 2018 at 06:03

    All elegant people like to be photographed, which is probably why I don't!

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:20

      You have quite a lot of selfies put up! See left!

      Delete
  8. Bea28 February 2018 at 08:57

    The blackened buildings behind her are really something!

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:23

      One of my first jobs in Bath was cleaning the black off the buildings with water sprays. Between the 1930s and 1960s, Bath was a retirement town which nobody cared for. Then we cleaned it up and now the tourist offices refer to 'the honey-coloured Bath stone...'

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  9. Hillybean28 February 2018 at 09:12

    That looks an awful lot like my late Mother in Law who lived in Bath! What era would that have been?

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    1. Tom Stephenson28 February 2018 at 11:22

      1970s.

      Delete
    2. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:23

      If it is her, I'll send you the photo if you want it.

      Delete
    3. Hillybean1 March 2018 at 05:25

      Thank you Tom. She lived in St James's Square in the 70s and 80s. She was German and married my husband's father, an English gentleman, there was a thirty year age gap. She was always very elegant and mostly wore black or navy. Still have a gold bracelet from Gilmer's that she gave me. I knew Bath very well, we rented all sorts of apartments there when we came to visit. At that time I thought it a magical place.

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  10. Maria28 February 2018 at 09:30

    Very nice of you to ask if you could take the picture and kind of her to allow you. Different world today.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:24

      Very different. When actual film was used in cameras, people thought quite hard about what they would photograph. Now it is digital, nobody thinks at all.

      Delete
  11. landscape28 February 2018 at 13:40

    Her clothes and attitude say intelligent , curious and engaged with life . That's always going to be sexy to somebody - age is irrelevant - and affectation redundant.

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:25

      Yes, you can be attractive or unattractive at any age.

      Delete
  12. John Going Gently28 February 2018 at 15:01

    She looks like a posh Trellis

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:27

      She was quite posh. I wouldn't be surprised if she spent the Winter in St. Tropez.

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  13. Lettice28 February 2018 at 23:49

    A snapshot of a bygone era... love it. Why were you raking around Bath with a bellows camera?

    LX

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    1. Tom Stephenson1 March 2018 at 03:27

      I raked around Egypt with it too.

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    2. Lettice1 March 2018 at 05:34

      I guess you’re old Tom? Were you hoping to catch Nefertiti out on the razz?

      LX

      Delete

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