JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2038   

Part of a Paper Micrscope series, Zoomology

Michael Beschloss posted this remarkable photograph of the Lower East Side on Mulberry Street, a rare color photo made around 1900.  There is a lot of life going on here–people posing for the photographer (standing on an elevated platform with a large view camera, no telling who or what he was imaging), people caught in their daily lives, people. Under the Paper Microscope the image reveals all sorts of sub-images, photos-within-photos, making it a fascinating exercise in exploration.

For example, the two men hiked-up on the back of a moving wagon on the bottom-right seem to be enjoying themselves in expectation, the man on the left about to toss something underhanded, the guy on the right in a bow tie getting ready with a smile to enjoy what was going to happen.  To their right:  a man with a sales platform draped from his neck, watching a girl rush by, his pocket stuffed with paper. 

And the full mage: