• hoch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      I actually know a bit of backstory about this photo - it was a series on child labor in the south, and these are photos of oyster shuckers for the Maggioni Canning Co. around 1911.

      I’m assuming shucking oysters are rough on the hands, so it could be wounds, but it also looks like crusted-on dirt, so I’m not sure.

      Here’s another photo where you can see their hands a bit better:

      And here’s the original untouched photo:

      Courtesy of the Library of Congress archives

      • Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        5 months ago

        I just wanted to add about the stares. Photos back then required the target to be very still ao they are just probably trying their best to keep still.

        Most photos of children failed because they moved. These were very still, hence the tension in their eyes, or just a lucky shot. Anyways, photos from way back always look like death for this reason.

        • Veloxization@yiffit.net
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 months ago

          Reminds me of the grim (or beautiful, depending on how you look at it) practice of photographing the deceased, especially children, during the Victorian era. Dressed up and posed, sometimes with living family in the same photo. Part of the reason being the exact fact that they wouldn’t move during the shot.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        This is a hilarious photo of they weren’t in such conditions.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 months ago

      If it isn’t AI (geeze have to question everything now), I would hazard a guess that it could be various injuries from textile machines or something.

      It could also be just standard “major ouchies incurred as children” but grew back oddly due to lack of access to medical care.