Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two

A while back on a post, I mentioned that if anyone had any negatives that they did not want to let me know.  I talked to several people and the negatives they had, had that either been passed down from family members or they had acquired some other way … flea market find, garage sale find, etc, etc.  Most all were just family snapshots, backyard picnics and vacation candid photos.  Not exactly what I was looking for, so I did what any other red-blooded American would do … I went on Ebay and bought some.  To me, almost all of the negatives that are posted for sale, fit into that category of family snapshots, backyard picnics and vacation travels.  Knowing that I should have been more specific, I was not exactly sure of what it was that I was looking for until I ran across the negatives that I am putting up in this post … images showing everyday randomness from the 1930’s to the sixties.  Now, the images do not have to show only America, but anywhere in the world … Europe, Asia, China, Africa.  So, I purchased these negatives, scanned them and worked them up in Photoshop.  They were in fairly good shape, requiring not much computer time to remove scratches, marks, stains, etc.  And as usual, I know nothing at all about them other than the obvious – taken in the 1930’s or 40’s and somewhere in Europe.  The location could be Germany or some place that speaks German judging by the words / lettering in the photos.  There were three negative and I have worked up two.  So here they are …

The first image is an overall view of the market and since the people look clean and well fed, I would say that it is pre-WWII.  The second showing a meat market / stall looks as if there might be some type of rationing going on since there is not a wide variety of meat or sausages for sale.  If anyone recognizes where this area is, please feel free to comment and share what you know with us. I have one more negative from this purchase that I will post once I get it cleaned up and ready.  The last photo is really the reason that I purchased these three negatives and besides the fact that they were less than ten dollars.  One problem that you find is that everyone thinks that what they have is more valuable than what it actually is … just because it is old, does not mean it is gold ( that is my own phrase ).  There are some negatives on Ebay now where the sellers want tens of thousands of dollars for their negatives!

So, if anyone come across any negatives that fit the criteria that I mentioned earlier, before you throw them away, think of me.  And, if anyone recognizes anything in these two images which would help me locate the place or the time frame of them, please let me hear from you.  Thanks again for looking and I hope everyone had a safe new year … Frank