Baby in Harvard, Illinois
Click here to view it larger.
What it is:
Cabinet card measuring 4.25 x 6.5 inches.
What I know about it:
Photographer is L. A. Reid Art Studio of Harvard, Illinois. Otherwise undated and unidentified.
Comments:
Flush with my tax refund, I wandered down to an antiques store I found back in January, hoping to score a couple more photos. They didn’t have many, but I bought four of them for just a dollar or two each, which made me happy. Unfortunately, they are all babies or toddlers, since the photos of adults were either too damaged or too boring to justify the purchase. Although I like photos of babies well enough, I find I’m drawn more to pictures of people with more life experience, under the (perhaps naive) assumption that photos of them will have more to say, more of a story to tell, more that a viewer can read into the image. But then I realized, looking at the image above, that this photo still says a lot about the adults in this baby’s life, their aspirations, values, etc.
Pics of Then 
Looks like this baby can hold his/her own–maybe there’s some kind of sitting-up device under there, but I don’t see any disguised moms or obvious aids. The expression seems self-possessed and rather skeptical to me, as well.
I’m assuming he/she is propped up on some sort of booster seat, but you’re right, he/she does give the impression of posing. I agree he/she is offering a lot of personality, or at least is presenting a pose and expression that allows us to read personality into it. Plus, it’s just a cute picture. 🙂
Beautiful baby! I’m jealous…you actually got a refund!
Well, the day I sat down to do my taxes last week, I got a notice saying I owed a pile of money to the State for some error I made on my return three years ago, so half of my return went right back out the door again. Easy come, easy go. But there was still enough left over to allow myself a little treat. 🙂
Argh! Well at least you had a bit of fun money left over. 🙂
Yes, and thank goodness I had enough coming in this year to pay for my past error. 🙂