Inspirational Showcase: 20 Examples of Vintage Photography

Vintage is cool. We all love vintage and that’s probably why this style will never go out of fashion and I’m not talking only about clothing or accessories. It also applies to broader domains like graphic design or photography.  Vintage is everywhere.

Back in 2011 Coca-Cola celebrated its 125^th anniversary by means of a vintage campaign – the ads, the bottles’ design as well as the logo’s design all were vintage. Pepsi went vintage all the way, too, the same year with the ‘Yesterday and also Today’ campaign. Furthermore, we can find plenty of vintage themes, graphic items or logos as part of any online design gallery. Not to mention that most photo editing programs, even the very basic ones, include a vintage tool.

I’ve always loved looking at photos from my parents and grandparents albums. I still do this from time to time and get a very pleasant feeling each time. It makes me yearn for those times when there were only black and white photos and life seemed much easier. But what I like the most are my grandmother’s portrait photos from her youth. Such a simple photographic composition, far from the complexity of today’s photography, but looking sophisticated at the same time. I’m sure that those photos’ beauty does not come from following specific rules as it does now. In fact, I’m almost sure that modern photographers follow strict rules inspired from the vintage photography.

Photography is not just about creating harmonious images, but about expressing certain feelings. All photographers, being either professionals or amateurs, pay efforts to express emotions besides creating a correct image, however they don’t always succeed. Instead, vintage photos seem so profound, lively and very expressive. I believe that this is the proof that advanced technology isn’t always enough.

Below you will find a selection of 20 vintage portrait photos that inspire me a lot. Maybe you’ll feel the same.

I hope you enjoyed this collection of photos as much as I did. Don’t forget to leave your suggestions of other vintage photos you like and didn’t find in this showcase, in the comments section below!