Last week I was at a lecture at the Philadelphia Historical
Society about using various family documents
to try to put together a family tree.
One of the speakers was talking about how family pictures can be
misleading. She put one up on the screen
and was pointing out that the places in which people were standing made you
draw conclusions that were not necessarily correct. In fact, a couple of the
people in the picture were not even family members.
On my old computer downstairs, my desktop screen shows the following
picture.
.
As I was look at it today, I remembered the lecture and
thought that if someone in the future saw came across this picture, they might
draw a few wrong conclusions so I decided to play a bit of a game with myself to
see what I might think, if I knew nothing about this family. Here goes.
The picture is of a
birthday party. The boy in the great sweatshirt
who is blowing out the candles is probably turning about ten years old, though
it is hard to tell because of the flames.
Looking on are his two brothers.
They all have similar haircuts.
The youngest who looks to be about three has the same hair and skin
color as the birthday both and the same eye color has his oldest brother who is
about thirteen. Watching them is their
grandmother or possibly an older aunt – she looks young to have a thirteen year
old grandson, but a bit old to be the mother of the youngest boy. Both boys are wearing sweatshirts that, if
you put the names together spell Eagles, so they probably live in Philadelphia.
If it is football season, then this picture is probably taking place in
fall. This is backed up by the fact that
the grandmother is wearing a sweater in the house as is someone whose elbow we
can only see.
These are the most
obvious guesses, but one might guess
that the elbow belongs to the boys’ mother.
The picture on the wall behind them looks like a large family group, so
it is likely that their mother would be there for the party. (As opposed to the
boys living with their grandmother.)
The house is probably a good size house – or at least not a small one
because the stairs in the background show that there is a second floor. The table we are looking at is just a
portion of what appears to be a much larger table so this must be the dining room. The
display of plates behind them also has more the look of a dining room than a
kitchen. It is a dining room that is
actually used for eating, though, because there are salt and pepper shakers on
the table and those don’t go too well with cake. The birthday boy likes diet
coke, while the grandmother prefers crush which she drinks from a can rather
than using a glass like her grandson.
Since this is a family blog, anyone who is reading this,
will recognize that a couple of the conclusions drawn here are wrong, but I think
it is an interesting exercise in making
assumptions. No doubt some of you would
have come up with different inferences.
5 comments:
I agree with the Philadelphia conclusion because you can also see "Philad" on the shirt of the boy blowing out candles.
There are clearly a lot more people at the party than in the picture because of the number of forks on the table. Probably the same family members as on the photo behind the grandmother. There is another guest behind the boy, maybe the father since it looks like it is wearing a mans watch. The other set of grandparents are probably northern European since the Grandma and oldest boy are dark while the two younger boys are fair. It looks to be a casual party because of the clothing, the plastic forks, and the soda cans.
The photographer appears to be a guest because there is a camera bag on the table behind the plate, indicating that the camera was transported to the party.
I would disagree about the table. To me it appears that this is a smaller square table and the photographer is at the opposite corner from the Grandma.
It seems to be a newer home as evidenced by the lack of woodwork, the square arches, the open stairway, and the modern looking thermostat and light switch.
Maura, good call on the forks and you may be right about the table as well. What I thought most interesting was your "northern European" comment - pretty astute. I thought about the photographer issue as well, but didn't know if it was only because I recognized my own camera bag as a camera bag. I wasn't sure anyone else would.
Very observant all of you. A couple of additional items I noticed.
The Birthday candles are probably the kind that don't blow out because of how they flair up.
The heater is running in the house because the thermostat is set at 68 degrees so energy bills must be high.
The family must like football since these are wearing NFL Sweatshirts. Having NFL on the sweatshirts is more evidence we are talking about football and not a soccer team. even though Eagles give that away.
The one item that puzzles me is the lavender decorations on the cake seems out of place for a boys birthday cake
This is super interesting and really cool to see what we all think. It's hare to take that objective view and not put in some of what you already know.
Interesting comment that uncle Ed made about the cake. Now that I look at it that way, I would agree. Perhaps either it's a store bought cake at the last minute and that's all that was left - which indicates a busy family (which makes sense with three boys) or the that the boy is helping someone else - maybe the grandmother, since she's standing right there - blow out the cake. In addition, there appear to be red flowers, possibly roses, in the corner of the picture. This would be an odd decoration for a casual party especially for a boy of about 10 years old. So perhaps that would support the fact that this might actually be an event for the grandmother or someone else in the house, who the roses may have been bought for.
The person who's elbow you see may actually be a man - maybe the father. There is something the shape of a wallet or phone in the front pocket. Most women keep these things in their purse, though I guess since it's an occasion to have your camera with you, they could have improvised and kept it close to them.
There's at least one more soda drinker at the party, because almost directly under the boy blowing out the candles is another cup with ice in it. That may belong to the man (agree with Maura's comment about the watch) standing behind the boy.
I also notice an interest contrast between the cake and the drinks, as the drinks are all diet, but the cake clearly looks quite sugary with all of the frosting. This is a pretty common phenomenon, that people drink diet cokes along with unhealthy food, but it is interesting to see.
I'm enjoying seeing the different things everyone picks up on. Ed is probably right about the purple cake frosting for a boy, though, when I was about 10 or 11 purple was my favorite color, so maybe not. Add in the roses, though, and that might tilt it in the other direction. I completely missed the man's watch in the picture, so chances are it is the boys' father since the picture in the background indicates a family orientation. I wonder if Ed is right about the non-blowout candles?
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