Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
- Freeze Frame
- Texas Flyer wanted
- Just a Year Too Soon
- WWII -- Replacing men with women at the railroad crossing.
- Yes, Icing
- You kids drive me nuts!
- NOT An Easy Job
- I wonder
- Just add window boxes
- Icing Platform?
- Indiana Harbor Belt abides
- Freezing haze
- Corrections (for those who care)
- C&NW at Nelson
- Fallen Flags
- A dangerous job made worse
- Water Stop
- Passenger trains have right of way over freights?
- Coal
- Never ceases to amaze me.
- Still chuggin' (in model form)
- Great shot
- Westerly Breeze
- For the men, a trapeze
- Tickled
- Sense of loneliness ...
- 2 cents
- Charm City
- What an Outrage
- Brighton Park
Photos submitted by Shorpy members!
Print Emporium
Watch the Fingers: 1942
October 1942. Metal parts are placed on masonite by this employee before they slide under the multi-ton hydropress at North American Aviation in Inglewood, California. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.
Some Staging (*)
I have done work like that and it is quite possible to have filthy hands only. (I tend to rub my nose so I always get a nice stripe there as well.)
The lower part of her smock is hidden in shadows but I suspect it matches her hands.
All of these nice Kodachrome prints of women working on the war effort are staged to a degree. It may be the worker doing her job, but by the time you set up the lights and the tripod it is not going to be candid.
I have also noticed in some of the previous photos that there was no actual work being done.
[Posed, not "staged." There's a big difference. As we've pointed out elsewhere on this site, many of these large-format Kodachromes were made as studies for poster illustrations (example below). They were never intended as candid shots of people at work. - Dave]
Clean
She has a nice hairdo, perfect lipstick, nice teeth, and is all clean and neat except the hands. Maybe this is a commercial for hand lotion.
Hydropress-O-Matic
The way she is smiling maks this photo look like a commercial. "Would you like to place metal parts on masonite? It sure is tons of fun!"
Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5