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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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Morning Bob,
Any chance we could have your spare copy for Vicki's meet-up in June please? We always have a raffle to raise funds for the forum and this would be a way for everyone to have a chance of winning it.
 
Bob Davis said:
Thanks OM, just seen it, interestingly, the Erdinton tram picture is an old postcard and an expensive one, sorry to put a spanner in the works, I think that there are one or two other pictures in the book which are on the forum
Bob
Click to expand...
Hi Bob,
I'm not sure about your 'spanner in the works' comment but a request to the forum's Admin Team could have any image removed.

Most old street pics on the forum have been copied from somewhere, either from books or from sources on the web. I only know of two or three threads where the old street pics were actually photographed by forum members. I myself don't scan from books etc.

This particular 'fun' thread started with pics linked to existing forum pics but changes of forum software broke the links so I edited or removed them.

With reference to quoting sources, see examples in post#2482, although I have no idea where the tram pic came from. I've seen it in various places on the web. I coloured it for fun (reminded me of childhood) but I'm probably more interested in the technical aspects of how computers do it. I did wonder why the tram had no adverts on it!

If anyone has not seen it, a quick route to 100 pics in the thread
https://images.birminghamhistory.co.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10006/TheyWlitpicsmod4.pdf
Works with Chrome, Edge, and Safari, but might not display correctly with IE11.
oldmohawk ...:)
 
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Lady Penelope said:
Talking of your colouring skills oM, you certainly had me fooled with your cherry blossom in #2448.
Click to expand...
Hi Lady P,
It was my computer which did the cherry blossom. I clicked on one petal with pink and told the computer to colour all the other petals although it had some problems because the pic was low res. I notice with added colour some things stand out which go unoticed in black and white pics. The women stepping off the tram in #2482 seemed to have a badge on her left sleeve ... perhaps a uniform of sorts ...
oldmohawk
 
Don't think it's a badge but a shadow as on the back of her skirt. If however it proves to be a uniform I would suggest that she is an off duty nurse (add the headdress and pinafore !).
Cheers Tim
 
oldMohawk said:
Hi Bob,
I'm not sure about your 'spanner in the works' comment but a request to the forum's Admin Team could have any image removed.

Most old street pics on the forum have been copied from somewhere, either from books or from sources on the web. I only know of two or three threads where the old street pics were actually photographed by forum members. I myself don't scan from books etc.

This particular 'fun' thread started with pics linked to existing forum pics but changes of forum software broke the links so I edited or removed them.

With reference to quoting sources, see examples in post#2482, although I have no idea where the tram pic came from. I've seen it in various places on the web. I coloured it for fun (reminded me of childhood) but I'm probably more interested in the technical aspects of how computers do it. I did wonder why the tram had no adverts on it!

If anyone has not seen it, a quick route to 100 pics in the thread
https://images.birminghamhistory.co.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10006/TheyWlitpicsmod4.pdf
oldmohawk ...:)
Click to expand...
OM
Being over apologetic with 'spanner in the works', I am an old picture obsessive, particularly postcards and looking at the picture, it has postcard quality as opposed to journalistic quality. In the case of the postcard, the photographer in most cases wanted animation (human, animal or vehicular or all three) in his picture, the journalist would want the subject of the article that he was photographing ...if that make sense. I was actually just generalising that in this book are some of the pictures on the forum. The great pity is that whilst all the modern pictures have been accredited, none of the older ones are and postcard collectors could look at a picture and wonder...is that one that I have not got? My tram reference was not to you coloured picture (which incidentally I think is superb...Birmingham had such a good colour choice for its fleet and your computer has reproduced it perfectly), but to the opening of the Erdington tram system in the picture above the Colmore Row picture, which is a quite expensive postcard. Interesting that the tram has no adverts, looked thro all my tram books and there are one or two without adverts, although most seem to have the wrap arounds front and rear. I just wish I had the computer skills shown by members like yourself, I can send an email, buy on ebay and amazon and that I about all.

Bob
 
oldMohawk said:
Hi Lady P,
It was my computer which did the cherry blossom. I clicked on one petal with pink and told the computer to colour all the other petals although it had some problems because the pic was low res. I notice with added colour some things stand out which go unoticed in black and white pics. The women stepping off the tram in #2482 seemed to have a badge on her left sleeve ... perhaps a uniform of sorts ...
oldmohawk
Click to expand...
Cherry pink has always puzzled me. I have two cherry trees both with white blossom, & in my village there are about 20 cherry trees & they all have white blossom. Are there really pink cherry trees or is it just to suit the song? PS, my apple trees have pink blossom!
 
I have a Japanese flowering cherry out front which has pink blossom but does not produce fruit and a cherry tree out back that produces fruit and has white blossom.
 
Thanks Bob, no problem! The early bird......
In Japan they have a cherry blossom watching festival and all their trees seem to be pink on the pictures. We have a Morello cherry (white blossom) which makes brilliant wine.
 
Bob Davis said:
OM
Being over apologetic with 'spanner in the works', I am an old picture obsessive, particularly postcards and looking at the picture, it has postcard quality as opposed to journalistic quality. In the case of the postcard, the photographer in most cases wanted animation (human, animal or vehicular or all three) in his picture, the journalist would want the subject of the article that he was photographing ...if that make sense. I was actually just generalising that in this book are some of the pictures on the forum. The great pity is that whilst all the modern pictures have been accredited, none of the older ones are and postcard collectors could look at a picture and wonder...is that one that I have not got? My tram reference was not to you coloured picture (which incidentally I think is superb...Birmingham had such a good colour choice for its fleet and your computer has reproduced it perfectly), but to the opening of the Erdington tram system in the picture above the Colmore Row picture, which is a quite expensive postcard. Interesting that the tram has no adverts, looked thro all my tram books and there are one or two without adverts, although most seem to have the wrap arounds front and rear. I just wish I had the computer skills shown by members like yourself, I can send an email, buy on ebay and amazon and that I about all.

Bob
Click to expand...
Hi Bob,

That particular Erdington '1st Tram' pic seems to be everywhere on the internet. It was obviously in the Birmingham Mail before 2011 and it appeared (hi res) in the Mail in 2014, and it is currently on at least two Facebook accounts. I have seen it displayed with a typical post card title on the picture and also as high resolution photos.

It is difficult because any pic showing on a computer screen can be copied and I suppose only a blanket water mark across the whole of the pic makes it usually not worthwhile copying it.

With regard to colour addition on pics I think I've reverted back to earlier times as Lady P mentions in #2486.

oldmohawk
 
Smudger said:
Cherry pink has always puzzled me. I have two cherry trees both with white blossom, & in my village there are about 20 cherry trees & they all have white blossom. Are there really pink cherry trees or is it just to suit the song? PS, my apple trees have pink blossom!
Click to expand...
Smudge

That's what the song says and Eddie Calvert & Perez Prado used to play. Who remembers - AFN early morning wake up number /...yes Perez Prado and Cherry pink and apple blossom white. BFN wake up was Marching Strings. And yes Cherry trees have blossoms from light pink to white, but apparently you can get all pink.

Bob
 
A picture of a sunny morning long ago on Coventry Road. Two gents take their horse and carriage into town but others preferred the top deck of a tram. Shopkeepers prepare for a day's trade and one man might be delivering laundry to the Small Heath Tavern. Such a variety of buildings on the left with various heights and styles.
CovRdIMG_1048.jpg
Black and white pics of the scene are in two other posts on the forum
click the links to see
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ntry-road-small-heath.3064/page-3#post-566416
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/electric-trams.28642/page-25#post-607945
 
oldMohawk said:
A picture of a sunny morning long ago on Coventry Road. Two gents take their horse and carriage into town but others preferred the top deck of a tram. Shopkeepers prepare for a day's trade and one man might be delivering laundry to the Small Heath Tavern. Such a variety of buildings on the left with various heights and styles.
View attachment 125450
Black and white pics of the scene are in two other posts on the forum
click the links to see
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ntry-road-small-heath.3064/page-3#post-566416
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/electric-trams.28642/page-25#post-607945
Click to expand...

I think the colour brings out details that can be missed in just black and white. Is that a bit of graffiti on the wall middle-left?

Are the chaps in the carriage Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy?
 
Pedrocut said:
I think the colour brings out details that can be missed in just black and white. Is that a bit of graffiti on the wall middle-left?
Are the chaps in the carriage Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy?
Click to expand...

I knew they reminded me of someone ....:)

The 'graffiti' was picked out by the computer and I had red set from those nearby bricks. Looking at the buildings on the left made me wonder about Victorian/Edwardian building controls, if any.
 
A pic from a postcard sent from Birmingham on 26 July 1914.
It is sportsday at an unnamed Birmingham Girls School and the photographer did well to catch a girl midway through a high jump. She appears to be wearing normal school clothes, and above her I can see her plaits with ribbons and her arms stretched out in front.
HighJump1914.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
A pic from a postcard sent from Birmingham on 26 July 1914.
It is sportsday at an unnamed Birmingham Girls School and the photographer did well to catch a girl midway through a high jump. She appears to be wearing normal school clothes, and above her I can see her plaits with ribbons and her arms stretched out in front.
View attachment 125521
Click to expand...
How prim and proper they all look, hands neatly folded in front of them, all with their hats on, but can anyone estimate the height of the jump, because bearing in mind the possible date and the fact she is wearing all her clothes, that is not a bad jump.
Bob
 
I would estimate the height to be at least 4ft but suspect that her long skirt is about to catch the rope which seems unfair. As I look at the pic, the thought occurs that World War 1 would break out a week or two after the card was posted ...
 
oldMohawk said:
A pic from a postcard sent from Birmingham on 26 July 1914.
It is sportsday at an unnamed Birmingham Girls School and the photographer did well to catch a girl midway through a high jump. She appears to be wearing normal school clothes, and above her I can see her plaits with ribbons and her arms stretched out in front.
View attachment 125521
Click to expand...
That`s no Fosbury flop she`s doing but still a damn good jump, & i agree that it`s about 4 foot. The only time i could manage 4 foot is when the owner of the apples i`ve scrumped is chasing me!
 
wonder if the lady is shouting to hubby.." get a move on jack ive left the chicken in the oven":D

needless alley 1950s.jpg
 
Super photo Lyn,
He does seem to have been dawdling but looks as if he is trying to catch up. Strange wooden cladding on the building they are passing and what looks like a very long roller shutter door. Perhaps very tall objects went in and out of the building.
Phil
 
Eric,
Usually the girder which supported movable cranes extended out to the extremity of their reach. There is no such girder to be seen. It has to be said that it is an exceptionally tall roller shutter and one cannot help wonder what products went in and out of the place.
Interestingly they have provided their own lighting above the door; I do not see any other lighting in the street but there surely must have been some. Sadly the name above the door is not readable to me and I doubt large vehicles went in and out as the street looks far too narrow. That cladding is most curious, what does it need to conceal? It is seems to be proud of the cill at the bottom.
Is that a pub next down the hill?
 
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Have stretched photo and tried to sharpen the name a bit.Not sure , but could it be "Post & Mail"?

firms name extendedA.jpg
 
it could well be mike...can you make out the name of the pub further down...thought it may have been the windsor

lyn
 
Looks like 'Post & Mail' is correct, see information below
mikejee said:
Lyn
I don't remember, but the c1952 and c1960 maps show the Windsor (in pink) going through to Needless alley.
Click to expand...
index.php

only visible if logged in
 
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