old photos

Yesterday I was at the school that my family is at, helping out, doing some organising of their archives. Some of the things I was looking at were old black and white photos taken at the school in the 60s and 70s.

In those days, the school was a boarding school, and it seems that there was at least one (but very possibly more) very good photographers there. Perhaps students, perhaps teachers.

Amongst the photos I looked at, there were classroom scenes, including one rather formidable looking teacher who must have been there at the school for many years. At least she mostly had a smile on her face, so I imagine that while the students respected and were in awe of her, they probably also loved her.

There were scenes of boarding house life. I tried to see whether the photos in the dining room showed Western or Ethiopian food. It was hard to tell, but I did wonder how much the school was just a little American or English community transplanted into Ethiopia. I suspect that this was very much the case.

There were also some lovely portraits of both students and staff. Someone really knew how to use a camera, and to get the best out of the students. I’d say that the photographer had a very good rapport with his/her subjects, as they all seemed very relaxed and at ease in the photos.

I did get rather filthy looking through all the old photos (they and their boxes were quite dusty), but it was a wonderful look back at what the school was like in times past. I feel rather privileged to have seen all the photos, as my guess is that not many other people have.