The Shining: 1908

I found a copy of the 1909 Indianapolis City Directory and located "Papatheofines Chris" at 108 1/2 E Washington St., under the heading of 'Shoe Shining Parlors.'

Today that address (to right of the corner building which has flag on top and ATO frat headquarters below) is occupied by luxury condos, in a building that started out (or at least was at the earliest of my memory) the Morris Plan Savings and Loan company. This structure most certainly was build well after the one in the Shorpy photo as it was in a modern 50/60's style.

This is the NE corner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets.

Here I've recreated the effect in my hotel room. This was a 5 second exposure with the flash firing at the start of the exposure. After the flash fired I immediately stepped into the bathroom.

I agree with Ken. The reason there's no blur is that a flash was used. With the shutter open, the kid takes his place, Hine sets off a charge of magnesium flash powder, then the glass plate is removed from the camera. This is how he seems to have taken most of his night shots. In this instance there was enough ambient light to register the background on the plate, an artifact we can see in other Hine photos taken at night.

If the exposure time had been long enough for him to walk on or off he would have had to stay VERY still while he was posing to not be blurred. Since he looks quite sharp I think it was two fairly short exposures rather than one long one.

It is more likely a very long exposure where the boy stood still through most of it and then walked off. You can try the same thing at your house with a long exposure. Simply sit still for most of the exposure and then get up and walk off. You won't see any streaks, just a ghost.

....since there's no streaks to indicate the kid coming or going.