Recent find

[muffett.2008]

A package of old glass plate photo's was located under a house in Weston, NSW recently.
Most of them were of Individual servicemen, WW1 era, but this one I found interesting being circa 1915, it would appear to be of Militia or Mounted Infantry, the standard and variation in dress and lack of leather says it's not Light Horse, they were always fancy dressers.
Attachment 100132

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[RASelkirk]

Hope they weren't heading out for Gallipoli...

Russ

[browningautorifle]

All long gone, one way or another...and their kit worth a collective fortune.

[mrclark303]

"and their kit worth a collective fortune" ... 5 Hook Quillon bayonets for a start Jim.

I hope they all survived the great war, interesting pic, thanks for posting.

[browningautorifle]

5 Hook Quillon bayonets

6 when you look again...First thing caught my attention...

[Sunray]

All of 'em in different dress suggests they may not be from the same unit. No cap badges or shoulder flashes suggests recruits. Possibly just posing for a picture.
Can you make out the badge on the bugler's sleeve?

[muffett.2008]

Bugle,....I'm amazed at the quality of this pic.

[Gil Boyd]

I think its the right call on a Militia when you look at the non standard belts and the over coat, and the proud bugler displaying his right arm and his new found badge on qualification.
Great photos.............back then, and like vinyl records they are coming back, because as long as the subject(s) stand still they can't be beaten IMHO as this one shows.

[Peter Laidler]

The bloke on the rear row, right hand side certainly wouldn't make 'stick-man' on guard mounting!

Anyone remember being 'stick-man' on guard mounting

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I guess this is a "restored" photo, but if they had "restored" the background a bit more, maybe someone could identify the location.

A 5" x 7" glass plate negative has a huge amount of resolution, 8" x 10" are staggering for the detail that can be seen, even with the old orthochromatic emulsions. A bit clunky on the battlefield, but people actually took them there. Consider the thousands of wet-plate photos taken during the American Civil War. In the North alone, there were at least a dozen professional photographers working near or at the pointy end with their cumbersome cameras and tripods. Matthew Brady was pretty much at the head of the pack. The fascinating story there is that a huge proportion of the glass negatives were "recycled" by either stripping and re-coating them or simply sold for their glass content. A substantial number ended up as panels in glass-houses, from where many were rescued decades later.

These large-format plate cameras survived into the 1970s because of their resolution; by later dates mostly used for serious portraiture and architectural work. In the latter case, the ability of the later "bellows" style cameras, not only could the focus be finely adjusted, the "bellows" could be skewed to alter perspective convergence in photos of buildings, etc.

The real breakthrough in "combat photography" came with the introduction of "roll" film and the folding bellows "pocket" cameras in the late 19th / early 20th centuries.ht professional photographers up near or at the pointy end with their cumbersome cameras and tripods. Matthew Brady was pretty much at the head of the pack. The fascinating story there is that a huge proportion of the glass negatives were "recycled" by either stripping and re-coating them or simply sold for their glass content. A substantial number ended up as panels in glass-houses, from where many were rescued decades later.

These large-format plate cameras survived into the 1960s because of their resolution; by later dates mostly used for serious portraiture and architectural work. In the latter case, the ability of the later "bellows" style cameras, not only could the focus be finely adjusted, the "bellows" could be skewed to alter perspective convergence in photos of buildings, etc.

The real breakthrough in "combat photography" came with the introduction of "roll" film and the folding bellows "pocket" cameras in the late 19th / early 20th centuries.