collecting photos

[David F]

hi i was just wondering what you look for in photos.
i have just bought a photo album that has your basic pictures in it,uniforms pictures of buddies and i was just wondering what every one else looks for when buying photos
thanks
David

[Adrian]

Hi Findis,
I like single photos, the portraits of RK winners and any where the person is showing all his decorations. I also like pics which show regular life and are informal as well as "atmospheric" shots of action.
I`m trying to build my collection of decorations for each branch of the services and include photos of the awards being worn as well as including general pics of the servicemen at work and rest.

Best Regards,
Adrian.

[Kurt Monsen]

I like to get complete albums from one soldier. They all seem to tell their own story, and gives an excellent view on the everyday soldiers life. Single photos are collectible if they document any special event, or any kind of equipement, gear and vehicles, etc. I specialize in photos from Norway, and find great joy in each and every photo I aquire!
Personally, I think photos are far more important to collect than medals, etc. (Don't shoot me sebastian!) because they are all unique, and gives a snapshot of a time that should never be forgotten. Today, with the MTV generation, and generation X, the need for pictorial evidence is increasing. People do not bother to read as much as they did before, so a picture can actually help you reaching out to a younger generation!
Just mu 2 cents,
Kurt Monsen

[David F]

hi i have a lot of single photos of one man,based in russia.one of my favourites is one where he is playing chess sitting in a chair made of chicken wire and tree branches.
David

[Rick Research]

Albums--especially when thoroughly captioned--are always best, but lone photos have their own appeal. Sometimes it is as simple as the expression on someone's face:

Here we have a "fun couple" probably celebrating decades of marriage. She looks like someone who appreciated a joke and a glass of wine, whereas he...

well, "love is blind" and here's photographic proof!

[Rick Research]

Sometimes it's the "mystery." When was this photo taken? Where? Of whom? Not a clue.

It is as atmospherically lit as a Hollywood movie...

imagine Rommel's staff car gliding around the corner and stopping beneath the huge off-camera swastika flag over the doorway...

or a trio of FFI screeching around the same corner in a battered wood-burning prewar Citröen, the sudden chatter of a Sten gun breaking the early morning calm...

[Rick Research]

And sometimes it is pure dramatic composition and a moment of history literally frozen in time--

as in this shot taken by a Sudeten boy as German troops entered his town in 1938:

Leni Riefenstahl could not have done better!

[Akira Takiguchi]

Because I am a reincarnation of a Landser who fell on the first day of the Kursk battle (no it wasn't Cholm), I always search for good panzer pics, my best friend back then... I always try to find those fancy unit markings because I have to tell friends from foes... I can't hate Ritterkreuzträgers because they saved my lives many a times... And then I love field kitchens and lunch/dinner photos, yes it's the most important in the battlefields!

Dann warum kann ich besser Deutsch sprechen nicht? Vielleicht weil Japanischer Sprache ist zu schwierig zu lernen!