Brothers at the Zoo (Netherlands, 1984)


Figure 1.--Here we see a Kodak print of two unidentified brothers enjoying a zoo visit on a bright sunny day in 1984. A Dutch reader believes it is the Rotterdam Zoo. We think the boys are Dutch. The boys wear two popular casual styles in the 1980s, jean and short pants. The younger boy looks to be wearing OP corduroy shorts, a popular casul style in Europe, but on closer examination I think he may be wearing jean shorts. The older boy wears a rather formal white collared shirt while his younger brother wears a colorful "T-shirt. The knee socks also look more European than American.

Here we see a Kodak print of two unidentified brothers enjoying a zoo visit on a bright sunny day in 1984. We think the boys are American, but are not positive about that. The boys wear two popular casual styles in the 1980s, jean and short pants. The younger boy looks to be wearing OP corduroy shorts, a popular casual style, but on closer examination I think he may be wearing jean shorts. The older boy wears a rather formal white collared shirt while his younger brother wears a colorful "T-shirt. A reader writes, "Are you sure this is a 1984 picture? The photo’s color quality, the hair styles, and the clothing point more towards the early 1970s. Perhaps it’s 1974 and not 1984?" Actually we are not sure. We have only the dealer's information to go on. We assume 1984 was written in the back of the print. That said, the 1970s was a time that black and white photograpjy was still common while by the 1980s, color photography had mostly taken over. After assessing this print, we are no longer sure it is American. Several factors sugget to us that it may be European: 1) wearing a white collared shirt with jeans, 2) the jean shorts, 3) style of the T-shirt, and 4) the Argyle knee socks all look more European than American. And the back packs do not look American. Undortunstely we can;t see their shoes which can often help identify countries. We think this my be English or German. It was done on Kodak paper, but Kodak paper was used in Eurooe. The hair styles may be affected by the country differences. I am kind of hoping that reades may eventuallyb identify the zoo based on the destinctive buildings in the background. And a Dutch reader has identified the location as the Rotterdam Zoo (Diergaarde Blijdorp), one of the most popular attractions in the Netherlands. So now we know the boys were Dutch. Dutch boys in 1984 would have dressed very similrly to German boys.

The Boys

Here we see twon unidentified boys, who surely are brothers. They look to be about 9-12 years old. The fair complexion of the boys suggests to us a narrow range of countries in North America or northern Europe.

Country

We think the boys are American, but are not positive about that. After assessing this print, we are no longer sure it is American. Several factors sugget to us that it may be European: 1) wearing a white collred shirt with jeans, 2) the jean shorts, 3) style of the T-shirt, and 4) the Argyle knee socks all look more European than American. And the back packs do not look American. Undortunstely we can't see their shoes which can often help identify countries. We think this my be English or German. It was done on Kodak paper, but Kodak paper was used in Europe. We have since learned that this is a Dutch image as we identified the Rotterdam Zoo.

Hair Styles

The hair styles may be affected by the country differences.

Clothing

The boys wear two popular casual styles in the 1980s, jean and short pants. The younger boy looks to be wearing OP corduroy shorts, a popular casual style, but on closer examination I think he may be wearing jean shorts. The older boy wears a rather formal white collared shirt while his younger brother wears a colorful "T-shirt. A reader writes, "I agree that the boy is wearing jean's shorts. As you see I have altered the color saturation. You can see the white stitching at the top of the pockets and the fly opening." Note: The image here had a much stronger redish orange tint than displsyed here. We reduced that to try to get a more accurate color ballance.

Chronology

A reader writes, "Are you sure this is a 1984 picture? The photo’s color quality, the hair styles, and the clothing point more towards the early 1970s. Perhaps it’s 1974 and not 1984?" Actually we are not sure. We have only the dealer's information to go on. We assume 1984 was written in the back of the print. That said, the 1970s was a time that black and white photograpjy was still common while by the 1980s, color photography had mostly taken over. A reader writes, "I think this was taken in the late 70's, but the film and printing paper may have continued into the early 80's My daughter was married in the late 70's and sadly all the colour wedding photos have faded to this orage colour. I think is is a fault with Kodacolor prints. I still have the original roll film and the colour is far less orange."

Zoo Visit

Here we see a Kodak print of two unidentified brothers enjoying a zoo visit on a bright sunny day in 1984. A reader tells us, "I agree that the boys look European to me. It is a bright sunny day, but there is no foliage on the trees Giraffes and ostriches would tend to rule out Scandanavia." Actually there is some folliage. This looks likes a willow tree with the leaves just beginning go come out. I am kind of hoping that readers may eventually identify the zoo based on the destinctive buildings in the background. In the background of the photograph is a rather impressive stone pillar with a decorated top. This should help identify the zoo. And a Dutch reader has identified the location as the Rotterdam Zoo (Diergaarde Blijdorp), one of the most popular attractions in the Netherlands. So now we know the boys were Dutch. Dutch boys in 1984 would have dressed very similaly to German boys. Another reader writes,"I'll go along with Rotterdam Zoo. They used to have decorated pillars in the old elephant enclosure, as above. The pillar in your photo could be one. Looking at it again it looks as if it might be an emu with its back towards the camera."

Editors Note

We have preserved the discussion of this image at an early stage before we knew this was the Rottederdam Zoo. The reason for this is thst there are a lot of intetrestiing insights asc to jowc to idebntify the coununtries and the date of these images.








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Created: 11:46 PM 7/14/2012
Last updated: 1:43 AM 10/23/2015