I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13801
Dad's Old Family Album is in preview. So many different ideas from a simple picture... I'm not sure of its age, nor the country of origin, nor the age of the young men.
Of course it's something to generate inspiration, so the origin of it doesn't matter from the point of view of the writing challenge...
but just out of interest, and because I'm that sort of person, I tried to find the origins of the photo.
According to my AI assistant (LOL!), if it is authentic, it's an enhanced version of an original. The original would be late 19th or early 20th century, and clothing indicates US or UK farm workers who are likely to be twins.
Please bear in mind that my own experience with AI assistants has shown them often to be unreliable.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13801
"ds wrote on Mon, 14 July 2025 19:46"
To me this shouts von Gloeden.
If this is correct it would in or about Taormina, Sicily.
Or it could of course be a photographer imitating him.
ds
--
I'm not sure. vG's work has an aura of studied yet sanitised senusality which I do not see in this picture. However that might be explained in Wilhelm von Gloeden in the section 'Attitudes towards his work during his lifetime and later' where it says:
"Quote:"
The ones that garnered the most widespread attention in Europe and overseas were usually relatively chaste studies of peasants, shepherds, fisherman, etc., featured in clothing like togas or Sicilian traditional costume, and which generally downplayed their homoerotic implications.