The CJM is Free Through December 15! Plan Your Visit.

Imagine what it might have been like to have your photograph taken one hundred years ago. Did you know that you would have needed to sit still for sixty seconds for the camera to capture your image?

In this activity, you'll create your own photo props and use them to take a “vintage” photo using a camera at home.

Instructions

1. Gather your materials

  • Black or white cardstock
  • Scissors
  • Pencil (regular graphite or white)
  • Chopsticks or straws
  • Tape
  • Printed templates  for shapes (optional)
  • An old family photo for inspiration (optional)

2. Make your props

  • Gather your materials
  • Print the moustache, hat, and any other template you'd like to use onto cardstock; or, draw the shapes onto cardstock
  • Cut out your shapes
  • Tape a straw or chopstick onto the back of each shape
  • Repeat the process to create any other props you want to use in your photo

3. Set up your portrait studio

  • Inside: find a blank wall, or hang a piece of fabric to create a background.
  • Outside: Find a spot in the shade without any modern furniture.

4. Take your photos!

  • Pose with your mustache, props, and other vintage-looking clothing, and practice staying still for one minute. Take a photo (it can be a selfie or a photo with your family) of your new look.
  • Add a black-and-white or sepia filter. 

5. Connect

FaceTime, call, or video chat with older family members, and ask them to share some of their older photographs and experiences with photography over the years. How is their experience different from how we take pictures today? What kind of clothes did they wear in the photograph? Was the picture taken for a special occasion? Might there be a story connected to the image?

Make sure to share your new picture with them too!

About the Exhibition

Los Angeles-based artist Stephen Berkman’s immersive photography installation is a tribute to Shimmel Zohar, a mythical nineteenth-century Jewish immigrant photographer, founder of Zohar Studios. The exhibition includes over thirty photographs, several large installations, a cabinet of curiosities, and a large format artist book about the Zohar project. These uncanny photographs take the visual codes of nineteenth-century portraiture as their point of departure, and the images and objects address both Jewish life and the scientific state of understanding over one hundred years ago. Together, they create an idiosyncratic vision of Victorian life in the United States, revitalizing bygone technologies and themes within a twenty-first century context. Through his work, Berkman shows that history is malleable and contains a multiplicity of meanings.

Stephen Berkman, Zohar Studios, ​​​​​​​undated. Albumen print. A sepia-toned photograph of a woman standing next to a sign that reads "Zohar Studios" in an elaborate script.

Stephen Berkman, Zohar Studios, ​​​​​​​undated. Albumen print

LEARN MORE
Explore the online exhibition
Supporters

Family Programs are made possible by major support from Bank of America. Additional support is provided by Blick Art Materials.

School and Teacher Programs are made possible by generous support from the Jim Joseph Foundation, The Bavar Family Foundation, California Arts Council, The Ullendorff Memorial Foundation, and Toole Family Charitable Foundation.