22 reasons why everyone is right but me …
Charlie is supposed to be 3″ taller than Roy but this doesn’t appear to be the case here and the reasons given for this anomaly are plentiful. The most common is that Roy is closer to the camera, however those that follow this line of thought might consider how far back Grandpa might have to stand to appear to be the same height as Grandma, seeing as he looks to be about 3″ taller than his wife.
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According to some this photo is wrong with regard to the apparent similarity between Charlie and Roy’s height because ….
1 Roy, being a short man, is wearing built-up shoes.
2 Charlie is standing in a hole.
3 Charlie is stooping. (That’s from Stuart Webb because his brother does, stoop; seriously Stu, that’s a bit weak old mate, particularly as Charlie in the pic isn’t stooping.)
4 Charlie has bent his knees to fit into the frame. (GuzzR)
5 Charlie has bent his knees so Roy doesn’t feel bad about being three inches shorter.
6 Both men have been playing tennis or cricket and only Charlie has taken off his sandshoes. (dude)
7 Charlie is standing well back and has very long arms.
8 Roy is much closer to the camera.
9 It’s the foreshortening effect.
10 Roy is standing on tip-toe.
11 Charlie isn’t.
12 They are standing on a slope that falls away where Charlie is standing.
13 They are standing on a slope that rises where Roy is standing.
14 The camera lens is a bit Basil (faulty)
15 Roy, being short, is standing on a photographer’s block to look taller. ( dude again)
16 Whoever measured the Somerton Man @ 5’11” got it wrong. (Milongal)
17 It’s the parallax effect (Jo)
18 Roy really isn’t 5’8” because his enlistment photo was altered. (John Sanders)
19 Charlie leaned over a bit to hug his parents. (Pat)
20 His shoulders are on a higher position than Roy’s. (Pat)
21 and Roy being closer to the photographer gives the impression to be taller. (Pat)
22 The height thing is a nonsense. David Morgan.
It strikes me that the Webb family photographs are actually quite well constructed in terms of how the groups are put together. I’m starting to consider the possibility that they were taken by a professional photographer.
Perhaps if it was a special occasion event as has been suggested and there may have been a professional photographer offering their services on the day to families.
This was a thing back in the day in fact “street photographers” used to work the city daily taking candid snap shots of people walking the streets of Sydney. You may be walking along when without warning someone would take a snap of you dressed up for town and give you a ticket whereby you could view and potentially purchase these images later when they were developed.
So what? well a pro would manage the head heights in such a way that they looked symmetrical (which they do in this image) and that can involve elevating and or lowering subjects to make the group look right. As a young buck I shot a million weddings and I would carry blocks to stand short asses on. es
Has that happened here? dunno just sayin !
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Dunno either, but I’ll make it number 15 …
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Thedude747, I’m wondering just how many families had their own cameras in the 1920/30s? If a prof. Photographer took these Webb family photos, wouldn’t his business/name be printed on the back of the photos? Perhaps the photo albums come from the same source?
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#Clive you’ve picked up on what Im kind of what Im angling at. IF this was a professional then that may well be the case. Cameras were not out of reach to the average cost wise in those days but it wasn’t like every family owned a camera thats for sure. Having a professional photographer photograph your family was definitely a popular thing in that era. The chairs could well be part of his kit as well.
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Grandma and grandpa’s heights seem consistent in these two images, I zoomed in on the grandpa image infront of the shed and the reflection could be a camera on a table? I found that timers were invented really early so could be a camera with timer? The reflection doesn’t seem to be an irregular shape like a photographer?
https://quickshare.samsungcloud.com/sNdK524Y1S4q
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How tall was the grandfather, JohnS?
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So we have grandad at 5’6” 5’7” – Carl at 5’11” and Roy at 5’8”. Does that look likely?
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Could be if Carls mom was over six feet tall!
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