Self-Deprecating Notes Found on Vintage Photographs

Writer and filmmaker Ransom Riggs has curated a wonderful collection of self-deprecating vintage photos. It is interesting to note, as Ransom remarks, that self-perception hasn’t really changed much over the years.

One thing I’ve found a lot of is photos where people have written deprecating things — usually about themselves — on the back. “I look so fat here!” is a shockingly common theme; I guess people were as concerned with their weight (and as self-conscious about pictures of themselves) fifty and sixty years ago as they are today. I want to share some of these with you, not so much to laugh at (although they are funny) but to demonstrate how little our attitudes about ourselves have changed over the years.

Ransom’s collection has also been turned into a book, Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past.

images via Ransom Riggs, Mental Floss

via Mental Floss