The Men in the Trees

State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

Here is another vintage image that I can resist posting. The picture is well thought out--the photographer took some time in planning the light and composition. I like how them men are both hidden and exposed by the trees. I also like that I can identify this picture.

Numerous bloggers have posted this image on sites aggregating pictures of men together. None have, apparently, taken the time to see if the image can be identified. It can.

The image, entitled Two Young Men Positing Outdoors--De Land, Florida--resides in the State Archives of Florida. The young man on the right is identified as potentially being Robert Stewart Bly.

Of course I have no idea who Robert Bly is, nor why Florida has decided to archive nearly 100 images of the Bly family. An internet search doesn't turn up much history except the photos and their family house, which is now the site of wedding parties.

Perhaps a Florida history buff will stop by this page some day and share a little bit about the story these two men are telling us from behind the trees.

For more images of vintage men and their relationships (some gay, some straight) visit: Two Men and Their Dog; Adam and Steve in the Garden of Eden: On Intimacy Between Men; A Man and His Dog; The Beasts of West Point; Vintage Men: Innocence Lost | The Photography of William Gedney; It's Only a Paper Moon;Vintage Gay America: Crawford Barton; These Men Are Not Gay | This Is Not A Farmer | Disfarmer; Desire and Difference: Hidden in Plain Sight, Come Make Eyes With Me Under the Anheuser Bush, Hugh Mangum: Itinerant Photographer, Two men, Two Poses; Photos are Not Always What They Seem,Vintage Sailors: An Awkward Realization, Three Men on a Horse, Welkom Bar: Vintage Same Sex Marriage, Pretty in Pink: Two Vintage Chinese Men, Memorial Day Surprise: Vintage Sailor Love, Memorial Day: Vintage Dancing Sailors, The Curious Case of Two Men Embracing, They'll Never Know How Close We Were, Vintage Love: Roger Miller Pegram,Manly Affections: Robert Gant, Homo Bride and Groom Restored to Dignity, The Men in the Trees, The Girl in the Outhouse, Tommy and Buzz: All My Love,Men in Photo Booths, and Invisible: Philadelphia Gay Wedding c. 1957. You can also follow me on Tumblr.