Gransnet forums

Chat

Baby photos?

(72 Posts)
notnecessarilywiser Mon 04-Dec-17 18:50:01

I was born in 1951 into a middle class (professional father, stay at home mother) and it's occurred to me that I've never seen any baby photos of me or my siblings! There are studio portraits of us from toddler stage onward and I've seen holiday photos, but none of us as babies.

If you were born at that sort of time does your family album include baby photos? (Our birth certificates indicate we weren't adopted, by the way). Was it just not the usual thing to do?

tanith Mon 04-Dec-17 18:59:43

No baby photos of me or my 4 siblings although there are pictured when I was about a year old. Strange, I hadn't thought about it before.

Esspee Mon 04-Dec-17 19:03:16

Having a camera was not the norm and getting film developed was expensive. I have a studio baby portrait and a few (pretty poor) snapshots. When older dad got a brownie box camera after which I have more (very staged) photos. Mostly of me squinting into the sun.

Nannylovesshopping Mon 04-Dec-17 19:05:54

Was born in 1950, there is one of me about eight months, naked on my stomach on a crocheted blanket, it's a studio portrait, in sort of brown colour, might it be called sepia? It's definitely not my best look!!

Greyduster Mon 04-Dec-17 19:06:44

I was born in 1946 and I think the earliest photograph I saw of me would have been at age three. My siblings were adults when I was small, but I remember seeing a studio photograph of my brother, the oldest of us, when he was about twelve, wearing a suit with knickerbockers and an Eton collar.

Auntieflo Mon 04-Dec-17 19:13:24

I was born in 1942, (do I count) ? and have studio photos of me at a couple of months old. I also have a set of those little multi photos, can't remember what they were called now.

Grannyboots1 Mon 04-Dec-17 19:19:52

I was born in 1950 and have one photo at about 6 months. My younger brother and sister have no baby photos.

grannyactivist Mon 04-Dec-17 19:23:36

I think I have just four photo's from the whole of my childhood. sad
What is sadder is that in spite of this being the most photographed generation, there are so few actual (paper) photo's being preserved for the future.

notnecessarilywiser Mon 04-Dec-17 19:32:55

Thanks so much for the swift responses! It's obviously pretty normal given the times. There are a few weird things in my family but this is clearly not one of them.

Auntieflo - they were PolyPhotos weren't they?

polyester57 Mon 04-Dec-17 19:33:47

I was born in 1957 and have loads of photos of myself as a baby. I was a second child, so there are even more of my brother, who is two years older. The divide must have been around the mid-fifties then. My father was a University lecturer and had a camera fairly early on.

Jalima1108 Mon 04-Dec-17 19:51:17

Apart from a snapshot of me at a few weeks old, the first proper photo was at around 15 months.

People just didn't take so many photos in those days and most were just 'snapshots'; we had a Brownie box camera and films had to be taken to be developed.
Not many people would have had expensive cameras, digital did not exist of course.

BlueBelle Mon 04-Dec-17 20:04:05

I was born 1945 and to a very working class family mum and dad both worked Mum in retail dad in a warehouse BUT I have loads of photos of me as a baby from a tiny one in a pram and all stages through my first Christmas my christening my toddler steps etc etc
My grandad and Nan both working class too but grandad was really interested in photography and used to developer all his own films He also did some movie films of me but they disappeared after he died I ve no idea what Nan did with them but I never saw them after I was a kid

fiorentina51 Mon 04-Dec-17 20:24:23

I was born in 1951 too. Our family was working class but dad did have a Box Brownie though there are few photos from the early 50's. I have about 3 photos of me as a baby including the stark naked on a blanket one. Non earlier than 6 months. About 6 of me aged about 3 then very few up to my wedding aged 22. I think there might be about 10 at the most.
We took hundreds of photos of our own children. Dread to think how many we have of the grandchildren!

Grandma70s Mon 04-Dec-17 20:36:24

I was born in 1940 and have quite a few photos of me as a baby, just snapshots in the garden, probably taken with a box Brownie. There is one when I was very new, but I’m invisible. My father is holding my 3-year-old brother up to look at me in my pram. (Brother looks doubtful about the new arrival stealing his thunder.) In other photos I am being held by either my father or my mother.

There are also studio portraits aged one and aged three. We were middle class but not very well off.

BBbevan Mon 04-Dec-17 20:54:42

The first photos of me are in 1947 when I was 3. They are polyphotos taken in a studio. I expect my parents and other relatives did not have cameras.

annodomini Mon 04-Dec-17 20:57:40

There are lots of pictures of me as a baby - I too was born in 1940. I think film must have been more scarce when my sisters were born in 1943 and 1945 as there are far fewer of them. I have a little book of poly photos taken in a department store in Kilmarnock when I was about 18 months.

SueDonim Mon 04-Dec-17 21:33:42

I was born in 1954. I have a studio photo of when I was aged about 6weeks. There are two snaps of me at around a year old, then a studio photo when I was four-ish and my bro was two-ish.

After that, there are the standard school photos and a few holiday snaps. Nothing beyond primary school age, I do t think.

The first photo of my oldest child, now in his 40's, is at six weeks. We didn't have a camera of our own. My sister-inlaw took the first photos when we stayed with her.

BlueBelle Mon 04-Dec-17 21:52:39

It must have been my grandads influence as I ve always had a camera since I was about 8 and got my first brownie it was a smart affair with a pop up shield around the view window which was big and you looked down into it I had it on a strap round my neck and held it steady against my chest I can see that camera so clearly now but can’t remember any I had after that one my grandad got it for me When we have our meet up school lunches I m the only one with photos taken at school on the playing fields at sports day and the various teachers it’s wonderful, to mull over them, my house has albums and boxes of photos everywhere

Smithy Mon 04-Dec-17 22:08:30

I was born in 1946 and the only baby photo I have of me is obviously a professional one (I was gorgeous then!). The next one is when I was about 3 (still quite bonny) and after that they are just school photos and holiday snaps (not so good).

Auntieflo Mon 04-Dec-17 22:54:27

Notneccesarilywiser, thanks, I had completely forgotten what they were called, but it seems that others also remember them as well.

harrigran Mon 04-Dec-17 23:18:15

There is one baby photograph of me taken 1946 on my Christening day, I was two weeks old. It could have been any baby as all you see is a shawl and a long robe.
There is one photo of my elder sister, taken in 1941 and she is being held by my father in uniform. My younger sister was born in the 50s, there is one picture as a tiny bundle in the pram then lots of photos from about 10 months old, I guess my parents got another camera instead of the box Brownie.

ninathenana Mon 04-Dec-17 23:38:49

I have one baby photo of me sitting up in the pram in the garden, I must be about 6mths.
I have one school photo aged about 7 and a couple of holiday snaps when a bit older.
There are no studio photos of either my brother or me.

1954 vintage

M0nica Tue 05-Dec-17 07:47:18

I was born during the war and my father did have a camera but he was absent for most of the first five years of my life. I think an effort was made to take some photos of my sister and I every year to send to him in India, so that he could see how we were progressing in his absence.

But cameras were fiddly. Films usually only had 8 exposures and the cost of developing them was relatively expensive.

Lilyflower Tue 05-Dec-17 09:50:39

There are very few photographs of me as a child and many years running where none at all were taken. I'd like to think it was typical of the times but, looking back, my parents didn't care enough to take snaps.

blueberry1 Tue 05-Dec-17 09:58:44

Born in the mid-fifties,I have only one photo of myself as a baby,then quite a few from about 3 years onwards.Oddly,there are more of my brother,5 years older than me.
My mom said it was because they sent the photos to relatives in Wales as they could not visit as often after I was born.