Victrola!

Portrait of another one of them dream toys - a portable victrola.

Humbug!

A belated valentine's day special!

USS Akron

Quoth the flickr caption:

View of US Navy airship USS Akron moored at Sunnyvale, California in May 1932.

Along with its sister ship, the USS Macon, it was intended as a flying aircraft carrier. Until the construction of the Hindenburg, they were the largest flying objects ever built. And they're still the largest ever filled with helium. Unfortunately, the Akron was notoriously accident prone, and did not perform up to expectations. Most infamously, on its way to Sunnyvale three sailors were lifted by mooring lines in an unexpected climb, resulting in the death of two.
Ultimately, a fundamental flaw in the design of the fins led to its demise in harsh winds the following year. The same fate befell sister ship Macon in 1935.

Since the more popular color photo process available in 1932 was the Autochrome, I colorized this picture accordingly .

More info about the Akron and Macon over here. Quite possibly the most thorough and amazing website on airships there is.

(B&W original in public domain)

Slow down or.....

15 miles per hour or we'll hang your noodle in a basket. I'd hate to see their anti-rape campaign...

(via Popular Mechanics, June 1928, pg. 953)

The Fiddle Faerie

The second picture in the series mentioned in the previous post. This time concerning a friend and her then-new instrument.

The Glitter Faerie

A little tribute to a friend and her love of all things shiny.
I took a few cues from the work of MGM Illustrator Jacques Kapralik, who specialized in miniature scenes using cartoon cut-outs of the studio's stars. Quite the perfect blend of my favourite hobbies - Illustration, models and photography.
(Scan from a Kodachrome slide)

Speed Graphic

Portrait of my dream camera, an anniversary model 4x5 Speed Graphic.

(Sorry 'bout the small size and double watermarks, had a bit of a theft issue recently)