say cheese
It pops up every now and then somewhere: a discussion about when the photograph of Mary, Laura, and Carrie Ingalls was taken, and if Grace's photo was taken at the same time.

When Anderson's Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography was published in 1992, it contained (and still does!) side-by-side full-page copies of the Carrie/Mary/Laura photo and the Grace photo. The caption beneath the "three girls" photo dated it to "around 1880." Details that you couldn't make out in, say, the photographs in Zochert's book, were fun to analyze and puzzle over using a magnifying glass.

Were those the Indian beads Carrie was wearing? Why was Mary holding a book if she was blind? Didn't Laura say she started wearing her hair up when the family moved to Dakota Territory? Why wasn't Grace photographed with her sisters? Why is Laura making a fist? Had Mary's hair grown out after being shorn close? Is that curtain behind Laura's head or fluffy hair? Is her hair in ringlets? Has Grace been crying? Is Grace sitting in the same chair that's in the other photo? Is that fringe beneath Laura's hand? Is she gripping the back of Mary's chair? How old does Grace look? Is that the same fold in the drape in both photos? Does Carrie look frail? Is Mary too flat-chested to be fifteen? Does Mary look blind? Why is Mary wearing a ring?

Interesting questions, and fun to ponder. But invariably, someone will point out that the girls had to sit still for thirty seconds or more "back in those days" to have a photograph taken. The truth is, by 1880 - and years earlier, in fact (if, like me, you think the photographs were taken earlier than then), photographers were using the wet collodion process which had drastically reduced exposure time to only a few seconds or less, depending on the light. This was followed by gelatin emulsion, then dry plate photography.

Somebody should ponder how you get a toddler - such as Grace Ingalls - to hold still with a calm expression on their face for thirty seconds.
- posted by pioneergirl at 11:15 PM