School Boys

The man who sold me this photo (for $10) told me that there was something special about it but couldn't remember what it was. It was important he insisted, but apparently forgettable. I paid that princely sum because the boy in the second row, fifth from the left, really stood out to me. Like on Sesame Street; "One of the things just doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same."

Love Field, Dallas, TX

"Scene at Love Field, Dallas showing passenger bus owned and operated by Southern Air Transport unloading passengers to be carried on the Brownsville plane of TAT Flying Service. At Brownsville connections are made with the Mexican lines."

September 1933

Lately I've become obsessed with old photographs, particularly group shots. The sense of lost history attached to them is intriguing. These people were obviously important to someone but who that was or why, and who the subjects are, is forgotten. It might be because I'm likely the end of my line, and all my photos are probably doomed to either a scrap heap or a rummage sale too. Or, in this age of digital photography, the delete button.

I found this photograph at the St. Lawrence Market Antique Fair. It is dated Sept 1933 on the back. I imagine this is a Toronto school, though there is no real way of knowing. The man who sold it to me only knew that he bought it from woman North of the city who's mother, or possibly grandmother, was in the photo. I wonder what compelled this woman to part with the picture. It couldn't be the money-I only paid $5 for it.