Postcard photo of an unknown young man at Herne Bay, Kent, England, dated 1903-1914. The photographer was Fred C. Palmer of Tower Studio, Herne Bay, Kent, who is believed to have died 1936-1939.

Points of interest

• The man is wearing a fob with Masonic insignia on his watch chain.
• His hair is plastered down with macassar oil.
• His waistcoat (vest in U.S.) is edged with woven fabric, but the main body of the waistcoat appears to be hand-knitted.
• The informal pose and position in front of a door-frame was unusual at that time; he may be a friend or relative of Fred C. Palmer.

Border

The remaining border of this image is important for researchers of this photographer. Some photographers trimmed their images more than others, and Palmer has a reputation for producing smaller postcards than other early 20th century UK photographers. He took his own photos, developed them in-house onto postcard-backed photographic paper and trimmed them himself. It is worth adding that during hand-developing the border is actively masked with equipment which both crops the picture and causes the white frame or border to appear on the paper. This frame is part of the design and is one of the reasons why the quality of Palmer's work is so interesting, and why there is an article and category for him on English Wiki. Researchers need to see exactly where the edge of the postcard is. in the case of this picture, there is no white frame on the paper, but it is important to see exactly where the edge of the postcard is, to see how Palmer has cropped it. The cropping is part of the composition. Thank you for taking the time to read this.