7/15/2008

Mystery in My Closet

Well one of the benefits of "clearing the clutter"of my closet has already appeared. I found a shopping bag full of old black and white photographs that a friend gave me years ago. Just WHY I have NO recollection of the images is bizarre. They are beautifully shot and well developed. The photographer must of been a war correspondent stationed in the South Pacific. There are photos of Hawaii, Japan, California, some Europe and New York City. I have over 200 of them. From what I can figure out the photographer's name is R.Raffius and was from New York. The only info I can find out thus far about him is that the Berkeley Museum in California has some of his work. I am showing you just a smattering. Also in the bag are beautiful vintage postcards from all over the world. Everything is in excellent condition. What an interesting life this guy had. If anyone out there knows anything about this photographer I would love to hear about it.OH Popeye!Coney Island?This looks like it is probrably Coney Island in either the late 1920's or early 1930's judging by the bathing suit styles and the straw boaters on some of the men. Would you think that anyone would go to a beach this crowded today?Is this a Volkswagon?"Don't forget your fez and keep your nose clean!"This one was sent from Honolulu in 1934. There are a lot of photos of Hawaiian "natives" and surfers also. (And also Jappanese geishas walking the streets of Tokoyo!) Anyway the postcards are great, this is like a big puzzle. From what I have figured out so far, the addressee on the postcard, Edward Mels, was also a photographer as there is a smattering of his work in this bag too. He seemed to be taking photos up in Alaska.Could this be the man, R. Raffius himself?

2 comments:

Nellz said...

I think black and white pictures are so beautiful!! What a find!!

Matylka Demlová said...

Hello! I am very interested about this photographer! There are very few people in the world with the name Raffius, in our country (Czech republic) we are three, some are in Germany, some I think in the US. It's possible that all of us are related. Our family lived for a long time in the center of the country, but I think we came from abroad. Maybe we split and some of us got to US and there this R. became a photographer. Don't you know his full name? If you learnt anything more, please let me know - I would really appreciate it! Thanks a lot. (vojirova.veronika a gmail.com)