Tag Archive | vintage photography
July 4, 2014  

July 4, 1922: First MCPD Posing in Front of Reed Brothers Dodge

This blog entry is posted today to commemorate the anniversary of the Montgomery County Police Department. It was 93 years ago on July 4, 1922 that the MCPD was first established. In those days, Montgomery County was farm country, sparsely populated, automobiles sharing dirt roads with horse-drawn wagons. But it was changing into a proper suburb, and there needed to be a police department.

Posing in front of Reed Brothers Dodge on July 4, 1922 Chief Charles Cooley, center, and his men of the first mounted unit of the Montgomery County Police Force, were on their first day of duty. (click image to enlarge)

The MCPD consisted of five officers and a Chief. Each of the officers was issued a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a .38 Smith & Wesson handgun, a black jack, law book and was allotted $300.00 a year for the upkeep of their motorcycle.

1922 Montgomery County Police Force

Pictured left to right: Earl Burdine, Lawrence Clagett, Guy Jones, Chief Charles Cooley, Leroy Rodgers, and Oscar Gaither. Photo by Lewis Reed

Source: Montgomery County, Two Centuries of Change by Jane Sween

May 4, 2014  

Photoshop 1900s Style

Vintage Double Exposure

A double exposure image of Lewis Reed’s brother, Edgar, seated on both sides of a table. Think about doing this without Photoshop. Photo by Lewis Reed

If you take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital cameras and the artful image manipulation by Photoshop, it is easy to forget that back in the 1900s photographers couldn’t just go into a computer program and change their images any way they wanted. They did what they could with the tools they had. Double image exposure was one tool Lewis Reed had in his photography tool belt. He was doing crazy things to images like this one over 100 years ago.

With double exposure technique, you could create certain effects like placing the same person on both sides of a picture simultaneously. Very hard to believe this image was not created using Photoshop, it is just too cool. No digital manipulation here.

December 28, 2012  

1920s Double Image Photos by Lewis Reed

If you take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital cameras and the artful image manipulation by Photoshop, it is easy to forget that back in the 1920s photographers couldn’t just go into a computer program and change their images any way they wanted. They did what they could with the tools they had. Double image exposure was one tool Lewis Reed had in his photography tool belt.

With double exposure technique, you could create certain effects like placing the same person on both sides of a picture simultaneously. Very hard to believe these images were not created using Photoshop, they are just too cool. No digital manipulation here.

Below are some vintage (circa 1920s) double image photographs from Lewis Reed’s collection (click on photos to enlarge):

Lewis Reed standing on both sides of a steamroller

Another double exposure wonderment. Wanna Fight?

Double Image

Oh No! What on earth are they doing? I don’t know, but this one is epic.

Don't Shoot!

Don’t Shoot! Lewis Reed is standing both front left and front right in this photo

 

August 9, 2012  

A Tale of Two Employees

Francis O. Day, Salesman (I Lost) paying off a local election bet to Guy Murray, Shop Foreman (I Won) in downtown Rockville circa 1940

One of the things I enjoy doing is looking through all of the old photographs in my grandfather’s albums and trying to figure out who and what they are. Some of the photos are more than 100 years old!  Anyway, I can easily identify most of the Reed family, but who in the world are some of these other people? It’s like some reverse version of “Where’s Waldo”.

This time it was my mom (Lewis Reed’s daughter) who wanted to show me this old photo and tell me the story behind it. So here it is…

The story of two Reed Brothers employees (Francis O. Day, Salesman and Guy Murray, Shop Foreman) who made a bet on who would win a local election. It’s pretty obvious that Guy Murray won the bet, because he is being pulled by Francis Day through downtown Rockville in a horse cart. I thought only horses could pull those things, but I see grown men can, too!

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