In the second shot, the same woman is scattered on the edge of the lake – her expression is quietly satisfied, the water is still behind her.
The identity of this woman is unknown, but her image is now seen by thousands of people around the world.
He is the star of a series of recently discovered photos, developed by Irish camera collector William Fagg from an old role in a film he discovered in a vintage Leica camera – and has since been widely published in newspapers.
Fagan, a retired public servant, has long been fascinated by photography. He has collected cameras that are over a decade old.
In 2015, he bought this Leica camera, which is from 1935. Fagan knew he had a film inside, but it wasn’t until this summer that he developed it.
It was Travers who saw the first processed images.
“He said: ‘There are people in old clothes and old cars.'” Fagan recalls. A crowd of two hundred people went to the pier in the window of the past.
When he got home, Fagan scanned the print in his computer, and the frames came alive.
The shot with the old car is the most attractive – a BMW convertible driving snow-covered mountain pass in the mid-1930s. The same car is also depicted in a more easily recognizable location – thanks to the readable lettering on the building in the background, Fagan believes it is La Veduta on Julier Pass in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.
The 22 shots were telling a kind of story. Along with the glamorous young lady, there was also an old gentleman – he was in fewer photos, but it looked like they were traveling from Europe together. In a single shot he is pictured, suing and in a tie, sitting outside the cafe, his eyes closed due to the flash.
There were also beautiful landscape shots of scenic spots scattered across Switzerland and Italy – surrounded by mountains, lakes and foliage and illuminated by sun and water.
The photos were so personal that Fagan felt as if he shouldn’t be looking. It was like peeking into someone else’s family photo album – or someone else’s memories.
“Photographs capture a moment of time that can never be revived. That is the most important thing in photography,” he reflects.
He was seized by an impulse – what if he could find the couple’s family in the image? Those shots are estimated to be from the early 1950s, so the couple, if they were still alive, probably would. Will be old.
But some friends or relationships will see these shots, if they have been published online, and can recognize the mysterious couple.
Photographic archeology
This BMW convertible is depicted in a few shots from the mid-1930s.
William Fagan
The vintage car that is featured prominently in many of the shots is known as the BMW 315 Cabriolet. It has a visible registration plate, but not as long as car registration records. The next step, says Fagan, is to talk to the BMW owner’s club. He believes that the number plate was issued in Munich, Germany in 1948 during the American occupation of southern Germany.
“Maybe this car is parked there, and maybe we can trace it,” he suggests.
This image is presented as a scene from Hotel Tamina in Bad Rugs, Switzerland.
William Fagan
One of the landscape shots surveying the view over Zurich in the early 50’s, probably from the fourth floor, is designed as a view of Hotel Tamina in Switzerland’s bed ragas.
A handful of locals who have seen the article and accepted the quest have knocked on the hotel’s door, asking if they could get a record of visitors in the mid-20th century, which they don’t.
The street walking with the female dachshund was originally unfamiliar, but some eager readers referred to it as Bellagio. Fagg then compared the street images today with the original shot via Google Street View.
“It looks similar to the street sight,” he says. “In the end the church tower and the clock haven’t changed in literally 70 years.”
He says “what’s going on is” photographic archeology “- he’s the favorite he loves, and this passion is shared by thousands of enthusiastic people around the world.
It was photographic archeology that pointed to the photos in the early 1950s – a reader, bored at a shot of Bahnoffletz in Zurich, evaluated the various buildings in the image, saw advertisements to come to a conclusion and street furniture.
The story behind the shot
This photo with the woman with the dog also appears in the photo.
William Fagan
Despite all the scrutiny and images so widely shared, the mystery remained the same – a mystery.
Still, the way Quest has taken his life is a sign of the power of a good photo, says Fagan. And naturally, he has found his own stories and theories surrounding the mysterious couple and their European adventure. He feels like he knows them.
He imported the camera to take photographs in the 1930s at a place called Nido in Bern, Switzerland. For this reason, it suggests that one or both or the couple were probably Swiss.
There is also an image of a young woman with an old woman, whom Fagan believes could be his mother. He wonders if the couple gets married and then travels to BMW in picturesque Switzerland and northern Italy.
Traveling past is always interesting. And with so much travel right now, peeking into the medieval world of European travel, which seems to be filled with glamor, away from anything, couldn’t be more appealing.
Fagan says he was haunted by how empty the scenes seem compared to similar locations today – or at least how pre-covid they were.
“You’ll see these people traveling around, and they just seem to be traveling alone. There are no crowds anywhere, there are just villagers,” he thinks.
These 1950 shots also have a sense of post-war independence.
“This cute car, this cute camera, this cute dog. It looks almost cute,” suggests Fag.
Many of the travel photos are empty from other tourists.
William Fagan
It is very possible, of course, that the real life story behind the images is less happy. They are beautiful prints, but undoubtedly they are bitterly bitter – despite being taken seven decades ago, this is the first time they have seen the light of day.
Fagan agrees he can’t help but wonder what happened that caused the photos to be abandoned for so many years?
And he admits he had an initial reservation about publishing images for that reason. What if there was a sad story associated with these shots that the people involved didn’t want to visit again? He didn’t want the re-emerged photos to bring any pain.
But in the end, Fagan decided that as much as possible, the images could mean sadness, as well as joy.
He’s also at peace of mind that he never knows who the people in the pictures really are – if that’s the case, “no one can say we didn’t try,” he laughs.
And yet he’s got camera boxes waiting for his attention, and his work with Photography Ireland’s Gallery and his writing keeps him busy.
Whatever the outcome, this photographic odyssey brought joy and intrigue to Fagan and people around the world.
And he will always hold out some hope.
“What I like to do is present families with beautiful black and white prints,” says Fagan. “This is the thing. This is your relationship. This is your friends. This is yours. You should be here to enjoy this, not in Dublin.
If you have any information on the photos, you can contact William Fagan via mfcafillos.com.
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