Old Picture of My Mom

Yes. I admit. I am obsessed with old photographs. It began, as I have stated before, by receiving envelopes stuffed with Brownie negatives my mom accumulated and saved. The capturing and accumulating began decades before I was born. As I have enjoyed handling, processing, organizing and gazing at these gems, I have learned a few things. These things may be just for me. In my mind. They make me happy.

This first photo has some damage at the bottom of the lady in the plaid suit. (I need to ask my mom her name again, so I can identify her here.) The damage blends pretty well with the tell-tale oil stains that cars, busses and trucks created back in the day. The lady to the right is my mom. I love how she is the only one turned towards the camera. She was on her way into work at the old Chrysler Hamtramck, MI plant on Davison. She worked in the Import/Export department. She took a bus sometimes. Sometimes she received a car ride into work with this lady and her husband. This shot was taken by the lady's husband before he went to park the car. I guess that is why she received the photo. Otherwise, I would never have seen it. Thank you dear couple that drove my mom to work! Processing these shots was a costly business back then. The camera itself would set some people back a more than a month's salary just to purchase. This is one of the astounding bits of information I have learned along this journey. That is another subject for another day!

I love this shot for many reasons. No, it is not museum quality. It is however one of the few photos that were candid, man on the street, capturing the day and world the way it was. It is my family version of a LIFE Magazine photo. I loved it so much I had to get it printed in an 8x10 size. It shows just how close a residential street was to this manufacturing facility. It shows the front grill style of bus that transported so many people around the streets of Detroit, a concept so foreign to me, a suburban girl. We had a car to travel by. I even walked to school.

Most of all this shows my mom looking stylish and fashionable on her way to a job that what not being a mom to me and my sister and brother or even a wife. I wish there were more of these candid, on the street shots. However, if there were, this one may not have made the lasting impact and adoration I have for it. In my mind, and most likely, only in my mind, it is museum worthy. Perhaps I will one day enlarge it through a Staples Store and display it on my living room wall. That process is another topic for another time.