Sometime around 1910, a man and a woman posed bedside a tree on a rocky hillside.

The photograph was made by an amateur photographer using one of the relatively new, hand-held cameras – or by a traveling photographer.

One wishes, in this case, that the portrait had been made at a studio -the studio mark would give clues about the provenance, and the face of the woman might be seen more fully.

Both figures are well-dressed: the man is wearing a suit and sports a gold watch chain across his vest; the woman wears a long dress or a long dark skirt beneath her buttoned coat.

In her hands, the woman holds a hat.

“Father” looks toward the camera with an open expression, but the woman is seen in profile -and appears more stern than her companion.

It may be that she was adopting the unsmiling gaze that was common in early photographs – or she might be cold, uncomfortable on the uneven ground, or afraid of falling.

On the reverse, we find the inscription, “Mother and Father”.

During the lives of the children and, perhaps, the grandchildren, this would have been a sufficient identification.

Today, however, without a name, a date, or a location, the couple remains unknown to us.

Below, one can see the full view from the face of the postcard.