Hi Everyone! I'd love for you all to participate in this #duffhistory poll. I had some trouble wording it quite the way I wanted it to, but essentially I'd love to know if you've seen any of the following photos online and been swayed by misinformation.
Go on, be honest 👇🏼
I paired it up with a super old pic of me holding a vintage camera, because we need to get some visibility and beat that algorithm, fam. Share away to your hearts content!
PLEASE NOTE: I have given all of the photos fake names. I know what the true provenance of most of the photos are, but I want to get people's genuine reactions to seeing them, rather than do my normal supply of accurate info sharing.
(That's me tooting my own horn).
Please do your best to answer honestly based on the first time you remember seeing this photograph posted online. Were you swayed by what you read? Did you know a little bit more context? Let me know!
The poll for each photograph will be in the tweet directly below it, because you can't have a poll and a photo in the same tweet. Get it together, @jack.
Two soldiers, one cigarette 👆🏽
I saw this photo online, it was described as the Christmas Truce in 1914 and I:
Tommies in the trench 👇🏽
Tommies in the trench 👇🏽
I saw this photograph online, it was described as British soldiers at Christmastime, and I:
Football match 👇🏽
👆🏽 Football match
I saw this photograph online, described as the fabled football match of the 1914 Christmas Truce, and I:
Cameron Highlanders 👇🏽
Cameron Highlanders 👆🏽
I saw this photograph showing the Cameron Highlanders before and after the First World War, and I:
Soldiers be stormin' something 👇🏽
Soldiers be stormin' something 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online (or on the cover of an Antony Beevor book) accompanying something about Canadians at D-Day, and I:
Stahlhelm City 👇🏽
Stahlhelm City 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online, described as Germans busting on into the Chemin des Dames, and I:
Everybody loves sub-tweets 👇🏽
Everybody loves sub-tweets 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online described as a French submarine, and I:
Hold Your Horses👇🏽
Hold Your Horses 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online described as a tribute to the millions of equines killed in the First World War and I:
Let's go for tacos when Verdun with this take 🌮👇🏽
Let's go for tacos when Verdun with this take 🌮 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online (and in the Daily Mail) described as a genuine photograph from the Battle of Verdun, and I:
Captain Crazy Eyes 👇🏽
Captain Crazy Eyes 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online, described as a soldier suffering from shell shock and I:
Nurses do it better 👇🏽
Nurses do it better 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online described as nurses landing in Normandy, and I:
Uh, some dudes? 👇🏽
Uh, some dudes? 👆🏽
I saw this photograph online described as a group of Aussies and a Frenchman, I:
OK! That's all for now - I got a LOT of great submissions for duff history photographs but want to keep this manageable-ish for the moment. Thanks so much for participating in this poll!
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A new #warphotos thread to brighten up your Tuesday and you’re going to want to bookmark this one. What follows is a step-by-step guide on how to find Canadian official First World War photographs.
(Photograph is: Lt. Charles Hemming “Chas” Hastings, CWRO Records Officer, ca. 1916-1919, unattributed, LAC MIKAN 3216622).
If you cast your mind back to May 1919, you can almost picture Canadian official war photographer William Rider-Rider escorting big heavy crates of glass-plate negatives across the Atlantic to Canada.
In honour of #RemembranceDay2020 tomorrow, I'll be posting quick bios of most of the commonwealth #FWW photographers - beginning today with the Brits 🇬🇧 #thread#warphotos
Ernest Brooks (1876-1957) was Britain’s first official First World War photographer & got his start in the Dardanelles. He was brought on on a temporary basis so that the British Propaganda Bureau could decide whether having an official photographer was feasible.
One of the most iconic First World War photographs - Ivor Castle’s 'Over the Top' - turns 104 years old this month. Let’s explore the history of this extremely famous (yet misunderstood) photograph #thread#warphotos
(This #thread is derived from a talk I gave last year for Remembrance Day, but as we all know, this year looks a little different. Alas, the magic of the internet).
Over the Top, taken in October 1916, is actually a series of 4 photographs, and I’ve posted them all for you here (not sure why O-876, the final photograph in the series is digitized from a print, unlike O-873-875). These four belong to Library and Archives Canada.
Today marks the 76th anniversary of the funeral of Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit (CFPU) cameraman, James "Jimmy" Campbell. Learn more about Jimmy below 👇🏼
Jimmy was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1906, but enlisted for the war from Vancouver. He had been working as a cameraman for Columbia Studios. Enlisting in Vancouver, he became a member of the @SeaforthOfC
The CFPU came together in 1941, and Jimmy was brought on as a cameraman. He later filmed in places like Sicily and Italy, and we see him here drinking wine with photographer Terry Rowe, an interpreter, and a local.
Who's ready for a #thread on the materiality of photographs!? If it sounds thrilling, it's because it is
I recently purchased the above photographic print on eBay. When we look at the image, we see a very memorable: "Battle of Pilckem Ridge. Stretcher bearers struggle in mud up to their knees to carry a wounded man to safety near Boesinghe," 1 August 1917, by Ernest Brooks.
However, when we look at the back (an essential, and honestly thrilling, pastime for all photo-historians) we see that this particular print was actually run in the Sunday Telegraph in 1966.