Unusual photo of father in law

[rubyrose]

Hi All

Have just been given this photo of my father in law and am quite intrigued as to how it was done. Has anyone else seen a photo like this before and do you know how it was done?

Cheers

Ruby

[Woodentop50]

I would say , its a hall of mirrors.

It's a great photo , you are almost getting three dimensional view of him , very unusual

                                                                                                                          Jim

[rubyrose]

Hi Jim

I did wonder if it was done with mirrors, so do you reckon my father in law has his back to the camera and all the others are mirror images?

Its quite spooky to have this photo cos he looks just like my grandson who is about the same age as Stan was in the photo.

Cheers

Ruby

[mudge]

Hi Ruby
What a fantastic image
Here are 2 cleanups from me
Mudge

[Springbok]

Wonderful photos,

I had a montage photo of my son taken when he was two.
The photographer took a number of shots (different expressions etc) and arranged them onto to one background.

It is known as "The five faces of Fred"!!! Not his name!!

It has pride of place in the US now.Not as artistic as yours though.

Spring

[chinakay]

Fascinating photo! Do you have a date for it? The lace collar looks anachronistic beside the advert in the paper he's holding, which looks much more modern. Can anyone read it?

Cheers,
China

[Springbok]

The more I look at this, the more intriguing it gets.

Really seems that mirrors are involved, but where? I can see that part could be from the rear of Stan with two angled mirrors, in  front , but it is the immediate left and right photos which are a puzzle.

Some of our Ancestors left some real mysteriies!

Spring

[rubyrose]

Hi All

First of all, thank you Mudge for the lovely clean ups, I really like the sepia one.

Stan was born in 1915 and he looks about 5 or 6 on the photo, so it was probably taken in 1920 or 1921. At first I thought it was taken at the same time as the small photo on the left which shows Stan with his father, grandfather and great grandmother in about 1918 but looking at the original, larger, picture I can see that the lace collar is different and Stan is also younger, probably about 3.

I think the mirror photo was taken in Liverpool. On the back of the photo it says Van Ralty Ltd. and it is printed as a postcard.

Its clever stuff, like you Springbok, I think it looks like it was done with mirrors but I can't figure out how.

Cheers

Ruby

[PrueM]

I think you have several separate images there, that have been transposed on top of one another (either a multiple exposure in the camera, or separate negatives).    The far left and 2nd from right images are related, and the second from left and far right images are related.  The central image of the back of the boy's head seems to not have an attached reflection.  I can't see any joins to suggest there are mirrors there, and can't work out how it could have been done with mirrors given how dark the background is, there are no reflections of anything else and there's no sign of a flashgun.

Just some thoughts, anyway!  I know there are a couple of "old-school" photographers who lurk on this board, so they might be able to enlighten you further (and possibly send me skulking back into my corner    )

Prue