Long Before Selfies, There Were Fishing Snapshots

Young women fishing from a pier in Saint Augustine, Florida, 1946. “Fishing, since the invention of photography, is a story people like to tell in pictures,” writes Barbara Levine in the introduction to People Fishing: A Century of Photographs.

Students fishing at the Florida State University Reservation in Tallahassee, 1970.

Photo postcard of a tarpon exaggeration in studio, circa 1910. While digging through tens of thousands of images of everything from birthday parties to family vacations over the last thirty years, Levine has noticed something—since the invention of photography, people of all walks have had their picture taken while fishing or holding a fish.

Baby with a bream on the line, circa 1910.

Snapshots, circa 1910.

Snapshot, 1963. “Fishing is one of those activities that many people have learned from a parent or grandparent,” Levine says, “and everyone knows someone who fishes.”

Snapshot of a woman holding largemouth bass, circa 1968. “This is a great example of how you bring your own understanding and experience to the photo,” Levine says. “People will have their own ideas about the color, the fashion, and the fact that she’s this stylish older woman with fish.”

Real photo postcard of men with trout, 1930.

Hand-tinted photograph of dog and woman with crappie, circa 1935.

Snapshot of kids with a haul of striped bass, 1966.

Portrait of author Ernest Hemingway posing with sailfish in Key West, Florida, 1940s.

People Fishing: A Century of Photographs © 2018 Barbara Levine and Paige Ramey, published by Princeton Architectural Press, reprinted with permission from the publisher.