It was a little bit of an odd image for the prompt since it’s not really sepia, but an illustration but it made for a good challenge to match up a photo! I’ve picked out these two because they were right next to eachother in the album and I’d love to know more about them but haven’t found too much. They seem to be some sort of instant photo like those from photobooths or something like that. For a date, I’d say something around 1930 or thereabouts based on the age of the other photos in the album near that page. They were both definitely taken in Holland and I doubt either woman left The Netherlands. They’re not incredibly flattering, or about as flattering as an instant photo can be. The photos are only about an inch wide by 1.5 inches high and are on a heavy cardboard material. The lettering at the top appears to be part of the backdrop in the photo booth, and there’s a metal hand holding a card with a number, presumably to help identify the image upon pickup.
On the left is Ellechien VanEerden, born 17 November 1876 and died 15 March 1945 in Holland (around Groningen). It doesn’t appear that she ever married, but she was the sister of my husband’s maternal great grandmother.
On the right is Gertrudia “Grace” Dijkema who married Wessel Visser. Gertrudia was born 13 September 1886 in Hoogezand, Netherlands and died in 1922 (date unsure). She was the sister of my husband’s maternal great grandfather. I don’t know too much about her, but it’s nice to have a photo that was labelled!
So, two ladies from two sides of the same tree! I have to admit a fondness for these tiny little photos since they were probably taken spur of the moment, not in best-clothes and aren’t entirely perfect – a little blurry and damaged. Still, a blurry and damaged photo is better than none at all, so I’m glad they’re still around!
Maybe they are some sort of ID photo.
They look very worried. Perhaps these were ‘official’ portraits for documentation purposes.
Those small instant photographs are neat things to have for the very reason you mentioned – because they are spur of the moment, pose as you are photographic bits of a person’s life. Professional pictures are, of course, nice to have; but the little momentary shots are equally nice to see!