This photograph was taken by Shirley Baker, born on July 9, 1932 and passed on September 21, 2014.  Much of her photography was produced during the demolition of slums in the Manchester and Salford regions, and she liked to depict the everyday lives of working-class people living in those places at the time.  Unfortunately, I could not find the exact year of this particular picture, but based on the dates listed of other photos by her and the historical time frame provided, we can assume this was also taken in mid-1960s Manchester.

The studium of this photo is the 6 children idly standing around in a not very well-kept area.  Based on the appearances of (most of) the children alone one can assume that they are far from belonging to wealthy families.  You can see the dirt and grime mottling their skin and soiling their shoes, socks, and clothing.  Some of the boys don’t even have shorts, and are simply just standing around in tiny pairs of shorts.  They’re all lounging about in the slums, and they don’t look like they have anything of extreme importance on their minds.  They’re just kids, probably tuckered out after a long day of playing.  Looking at pictures like this, I always wonder what their parents are up to.  Maybe they were so busy they didn’t have time to scold their kids for getting dirty back then.  Or, maybe, they simply didn’t care.

However, the detail – the punctum – that caught my attention the most was the little girl standing in the center of the group.  She caught my eye for several reasons; for one thing, she is the only girl standing in that group.  I have to wonder how she ended up with such a rowdy-looking group of boys.  Maybe one of them is her brother, and she simply tagged along – or maybe she was a more independent child, and she is simply among friends.  The differences go even further when you notice what she’s wearing – another punctum, perhaps.  She’s dressed in a charming little patterned dress, complete with white socks and what appears to be Mary Janes.  She’s well-dressed, and as far as I can tell, there isn’t a speck of dirt on her.  It makes me wonder if even while being outside with her friends she keeps in mind she must not act too wild, else she might hear it at home.  It reminds me of when I was little, playing outside with my neighbors in the small woods behind our houses or running wild in the playground in elementary school; my excitement would never get too out of hand because I never wanted to risk getting grass stains on my pants.

There are other little details here that caught my attention – the fact that the boy next to the little girl is stepping on the little girl’s foot, the second boy from the left seems to be eating something that can’t be discerned.  Overall, this picture just brings back memories of my own childhood, although the time periods and areas are as different as can be.