Old photographs - is this creepy?

[AutumnBlossom]

I have an area of interest, but not sure if it's creepy or not. I love looking at vintage photos of family and friends, other people's family and friends, celebrities of bygone eras.

I found out it is actually a thing for people to sell bundles of old photos from various time periods. They have no real value to the person who buys them, unless they strike lucky and find something unexpected.

I can't decide if it's macabre to buy such things? The collections are a bundle of people and places. Some of them really old. Seeing how people used to live and what places looked like in the past.

I also worry (don't laugh) about if they could carry a curse or attract spirits. As there was that fashion in Victorian times, where if someone died they'd take photographs, some of which are quite creepy.

[violetsnowdrops]

I don't think looking at vintage photos is weird at all. I mean if you think of a stranger looking at another stranger's photo is weird but I think this is sort of in a different sense?

[originalbiglymavis]

If I look through very old family shots I have no idea who most of them are!

[expatinscotland]

People sell portraits of people all the time, too. Some of them are very famous. The Mona Lisa is just a painted version of an old photo. How are photos any more creepy than portraits?

[BackforGood]

I didn't realise there was a market for such things

[milkmoustache]

Tom Phillips has done a fantastic book called We Are the People which is largely based on his collection of photos of strangers. It's really intriguing, and a great view into the past. I think he must have spent a lot of time amassing his collection, it's one of my favourite books ever.

[achangeisgonnacome]

The Mona Lisa is just a painted version of an old photo???

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

A painted portrait is an artist's interpretation of a person ... Just ask Henry VIII if he thinks it's the same as a photograph!*

Disclaimer * I know that Anne of Cleves probably wasn't really ugly anyway Henry was no oil painting!

[glitterglitters]

I went to a big antiques market on the outskirts of Paris and bought loads of vintage photos. They absolutely fascinate me and I like the idea that when I'm dead and gone someone might find a photo of me and wonder about who I was and my life. They keep existing long after they've gone then ❤️

[TheGirlOnTheLanding]

Vintage photos are fascinating. I do find it a little bit sad that they've been thrown away because the people that they meant something to are gone, but I love seeing snapshots of history. There are dozens of Instagram accounts that are based on found vintage pictures so obviously a widely shared fascination!

[expatinscotland]

Yes, because there was no ability to take a photograph then. Photos are no 'creepier' that portraits. As for them being cursed or housing spirits, c'mon!

[SaskiaRembrandtWasFramed]

No, it's not macabre, it's quite interesting. I don't think you need to worry about curses either, we'll, not unless you buy that painting of the lady with the green face.

[SaskiaRembrandtWasFramed]

'The Mona Lisa is just a painted version of an old photo???'

Yes, it was a holiday snap that gave her a bitchy resting face, so she had it revamped. All of Reubens work is the before bit of slimming product adverts.

[expatinscotland]

It's a form of capturing an image of someone.

[silkpyjamasallday]

I LOVE seeing old family photos, and did a module on the history of photography as part of my degree, so I am interested in old photos in general. I also bought a Victorian locket necklace on eBay and it has the original photos in it, one of which is printed on tin. I'm going to cover them with my own but I like to think these men must have been nice to have meant enough for someone to wear their image in a locket so I won't discard them.

[Ski40]

Not creepy at all, I do that too, because I find it beautiful and fascinating.
At some point I had several framed old photos of landmarks in my village in my landing. They were beautiful, though I ended up taking them down because one of them creeped my children out (there were a mother and little girl standing in a street that did look a bit ghostly... I loved them though!)