Featured Hand Colored Photographs California Photographers

I found similar photographs by Harold A. Taylor and by Cora A. Jones Smith. "Torrey Pines". Harold Smith was also involved in early color photography. Other than a small bio on birth, death, marriage on each, there didn't seem to be much more information online. Is anyone familiar with either one.

No signatures or embossing on the photographs that I can see.

 

Torrey Pines is just south of Del Mar and north of La Jolla. Been there many times. It's where the Salk institute and the golf course is.

 

I so wanna play Torrey Pines !!

 

I couldn't find much info on either also. I did find info on Cora Smith on the ASKart.com site saying she was known for her paintings and etching with no mention of photography.
I found several paintings of that area by her, but no photographs.
http://www.askart.com/artist/Cora_A_Jones_Smith/10050173/Cora_A_Jones_Smith.aspx#

The following webpage has a little info on Harold Taylor telling about his Three Arrow studio in Coronado, CA, his tinted photographs, etc. Do read the comments especially the 4, 5, & 8. The framed tinted/handcolored photo shown is signed at the bottom right by Taylor.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/47266-harold-a-taylor-signed-photograph-ear

Have you taken them out of the frames to see if a sig. might be covered at the bottom of pics or anything written on the backs? What is that orange mark peeking out from the bottom of the 2nd pic?



--- Susan

 

I did once.
Got the ball in the first hole, left it there and went home.
Why would you take it out once in?


And Torrey Pines are actual trees and, I think, only grow there.

 

A lot of amateurs did hand tinting back when; I've even taken a swing at it myself. You may never know.

 

Thank you for the replies. I was in La Jolla in the early 90's for a conference and it was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of free time to really see it.

Thank you for those links Susan. I think I will take it out of the frame. That orange area does not look like a signature and before posting here I looked at that area with a magnifier and a loupe. I will post what I find, if anything.

I did find a small blurb about Cora doing some photography, I'll see if I can find it again. I don't know why I didn't save the link in the first place.

 

The second photograph is definitely by a professional photographer. I found this between the backer board and the photograph. It looks like the original paper backing. It's a shame they cut off the date. "#10267 - Wind Swept Torrey Pines" is written directly on the back of the photograph. I zoomed in on the orange areas and it doesn't look like anything to me. It is slightly raised like oil paint as is the pink area.














Maybe the Santa sticker is a clue to the date. It could have been placed on there years later but I thought it was worth a shot. Does anyone collect old Christmas stickers?

 

I took the first photograph out of the frame and did not find anything. Although I noticed what looks like a number on the bottom left corner. The 5 could be an S.

 

I found it, I found it!!! Thanks to finding the title of the 2nd pic I was able to Google the title and found another selling now on eBay. It is more professionally frame, titled "Wind Swept Pine," and has the photographer's sig, Hall. The seller is only dating it pre 1950.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Early-Calif...hash=item48493cc1e7:m:mFm5naregLRE9u1pAEc7pFA

--- Susan

 

Thank you! Thank you! I used the same search terms and that didn't come up. It's interesting to see the difference in the hand tinting. Comparing them side by side, the image appears to be exactly the same with the exception of distance. Mine appears to be just a bit closer.

 

This may be totally off base, but I found that a well-known naturalist involved with the National Park Service in the early 20th century named Ansel Hall also took photographs in California. He is also known for being an early mentor to Ansel Adams (although the first name similarity is apparently a coincidence).

Some biographies of Ansel Hall do not mention that he was also a photographer, but there are collections that include photos attributed to him:

https://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/Finding_Aids/inventory/Hall.htm

http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/metcalf/search?Date=&page=104

Here is some biographical information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Franklin_Hall

http://landscapesonglass.com/ansel-ansel.html

This may or may not be the person who took your photos, but thought I'd give you another line of investigation.

 

You're welcome. I use the generic Google search, not any of the Google search engines found on websites. Just about all the embedded Google search engines found on websites tend to be geared toward advertisers, at least the first 1/2 dozen or so listings. To find this pic I used the search words of: hand-tinted photograph "Wind Swept Pine." The quotes around Wind Swept Pine usually forces the search engine to pick up those words in that order. Then Google wants to argue, to change it to Windswept as one word. I forced Google to search for only the 2 words version by clicking "Search instead for hand-tinted photograph "Wind Swept Pine." Once there, I click "Images."

Here is the generic Google Search engine:
https://www.google.com/

Here is the final result. The eBay photo is the 5th one on the top row:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hand-tinted+photograph+"Windswept+Pine"&biw=1280&bih=521&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMxpCwtb_RAhVmiFQKHdnzBA8QsAQIHA#tbm=isch&q=hand-tinted+photograph+"Wind+Swept+Pine"

--- Susan

 

Thank you Figtree! Reading about him was so interesting even if he wasn't the photographer. With all that he accomplished, I'm surprised he isn't as well known for his achievements and/or his photography. I looked through some of the photographs and hope to go back and look at more this evening.

Thank you for the search lesson Susan that was so helpful! I had the same issue with Google correcting Wind Swept into one word.