File:Fred C Palmer portrait of sportsman.jpg

Portrait photo of a young sportsman at Swindon, Wiltshire, England in the 1920s or 30s. The badge represents the Army Physical Training Corps. The sub-captain rank possibly indicates that he is a footballer. From a postcard deposited at Swindon Record Office and scanned and uploaded by them to Flickr. The photographer was Fred C. Palmer of Tower Studio, Herne Bay, Kent ca.1905-1920, and of 6 Cromwell Street, Swindon ca.1920-1936. He is believed to have died 1936-1939.

Points of interest

• The glossy hair-oil, the clean vest (singlet in US) and the pose with folded arms were the norm for sports portraits in the 1920s-1930s era.
• The artistic technique of finding beauty in irregularity of shape was part of a very modern style, typified in Picasso's blue period. So the style of the portrait would indicate that Palmer was aware of current artistic movements and ideas. This young man is not the most handsome subject, but Palmer has made a strikingly beautiful work of art.

The remaining border of this image is important for researchers of this photographer. Some photographers trimmed their images more than others, and Palmer has a reputation for producing smaller postcards than other early 20th century UK photographers. He took his own photos, developed them in-house onto postcard-backed photographic paper and trimmed them himself. It is worth adding that during hand-developing the border is actively masked with equipment which both crops the picture and causes the white frame or border to appear on the paper. This frame is part of the design and is one of the reasons why the quality of Palmer's work is so interesting, and why there is an article and category for him on English Wiki. Researchers need to see exactly where the edge of the postcard is. In the case of this picture we don't have all of the border in shot, but we need to keep what remains, to appreciate the composition and the effect that the photographer wanted. Thank you for taking the time to read this.