Yesterday, Bill sent me a link to an article in the Daily Mail that had amazing mugshots from the New South Wales police in the 1920s.
I cannot stop looking at them. Their clothes, poses, expressions, hair – it is fascinating!
I found another page with more photos (lots of links on the bottom of the page too)… and then I found that they were mentioned on NPR earlier this year. In the comments on that article someone mentioned daguerreotype post-mortem photography. I started googling and I had no idea what I would find although back in the 1800’s death portraiture photography was common. I came across the Thanatos Archive which has a sample gallery – it is creepy, eerie and fascinating how open and unafraid of death these people were. Also, it shows the importance that was placed on preserving the memory of loved ones at a time when photography was expensive and you can only imagine the emotions these people were going through at the time. If you do some googling you will find many blog posts dedicated to this Victorian photography – including one of a dead man standing for a portrait.
Anyway.. back to looking at more mugshots!