Who was this man from Preston ?

[dfk]

Does anyone know who this man was or have seen his picture or likeness anywhere in Preston, the photo was taken between 1885 and 1890.
Feel free to reply at any time, now or years from now, i will get to see it.
Any ideas on his clothing , age etc will be wecome.

Thanking you.

David.

[chinakay]

How do you know the photo is 1885 to 1890, dfk? It's extremely poor quality for that time frame and I would have said 1860s...

Cheers,
China

[dfk]

hi, it was in the "preston photo archive" with the info for the photographers studio (oldham and son, frigate preston)which was only open for this period of time, will try to attach the original pic next.
The preston photo archive has a lot of old portraits of persons they dont know the names of and hopefuly people might see them and help with names if at all possible.
I agree the quality of the photo seems poor, might be the reason the studio only lasted for such a short time.

[Galium]

The photo could be a reprint of an older one.  I have one of a GGGgrandfather with the name of a studio in Yorkshire on the card mount, which dates to the 1880s. GGGgrandfather died in 1871 in Huntingdonshire, some years before the family moved north.

[chinakay]

That's why I was asking about the date...I'm sure it's a reprint. There was a lot of competition in the photography market which is perhaps why the studio didn't last. I think this is a memorial photo of a person who had passed away, very common and especially in this kind of oval matte. By 1885 camera lenses were very good and even a novice could take a better photo than this

Cheers,
China

[chinakay]

Also, it's been retouched a bit, but not very well. To make a copy with no negative a picture had to be rephotographed, usually with poor results, and many photographers tried to cover up flaws and sharpen fuzzy bits. Usually with worse results 

[dfk]

Yes , probably right about retouching  and that it was rephotographed, i am thinking that this might mean that others wanted a copy ?

[chinakay]

Sure. People exchanged photos with friends as well as family, so any number of people could have been given a copy. Social networking was essential in those days, and sentimentality was very much a part of Victorian culture.