# Help with telling what time of year it is in this photo **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513 "2017-07-04T23:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/21 "2017-07-08T22:33:17Z")
> [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](#): > > Ok, spit balling here, but looking at the gentleman’s watch and playing with contrast, it looks to be a little after 5:00. I salute your detective work Mr. GES, be it right or wrong. But I can’t duplicate your work with the watch – I finally downloaded the full-size image, but don’t see anything close to 5:00. Assuming the 12 is closest to the man’s hand (there seems to be a stem there) , I’m seeing the watch’s hands in the 10 and 2 positions. Which makes no sense, unless the watch is wrong/stopped. The shadows are too long for 10:10 am or 1:50 pm. Does anyone else see the watch hands? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/22 "2017-07-08T22:45:36Z")
It looked like a little after 5:00 to me, but it might have been the power of suggestion. I’ll note that usually a watch stem is at the 3:00 position. That might be why you see it differently. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/23 "2017-07-08T22:48:30Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I salute your detective work Mr. GES, be it right or wrong. But I can’t duplicate your work with the watch – I finally downloaded the full-size image, but don’t see anything close to 5:00. Assuming the 12 is closest to the man’s hand (there seems to be a stem there) , I’m seeing the watch’s hands in the 10 and 2 positions. > > Which makes no sense, unless the watch is wrong/stopped. The shadows are too long for 10:10 am or 1:50 pm. > > Does anyone else see the watch hands? Every wristwatch I can recall owning always had the stem adjacent to the 3. I can’t make out the hands clearly but based on yours and the detective work above, both hands just either side of the three makes it a little after 4/5:00 or coming up on 1/2:30. Curve of the bezel looks to be throwing shadows on the clockface parallel to the arm. Pocket watches have the stem near the 12 but I’ve also seen them with a stop watch configuration at 2 & 10 with the hanger for the fob at 12. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/24 "2017-07-08T23:06:26Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Assuming the 12 is closest to the man’s hand I’ve never seen a watch with 12 closest to the hand. It’s always been the 3. Can you provide any example of a wrist watch with a 12 nearest the hand? ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/25 "2017-07-08T23:50:45Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > To me, that looks more like an iron sewer grate in a rectangle of concrete. > > I’d like to know the name of the institution. It would be fun to see what the site looks like 40 years later – and maybe an ambitious person could analysis the geometry of the shadows. Notre Dame School Sisters   Address: 345 Belden Hill Rd, Wilton, CT 06897 ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/26 "2017-07-08T23:52:04Z")
> [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](#): > > Ok, spit balling here, but looking at the gentleman’s watch and playing with contrast, it looks to be a little after 5:00. If it’s after June, then sunrise doesn’t appear to occur earlier than 5:30, so it must be early evening in Connecticut in 1967. > > Now, the young woman’s shadow appears to be about half the width of the road. If the road is 20’, then call it a 10’ shadow to the curb, plus if she’s standing in the middle of a 3’ side walk, another 1.5’. 11.5’ overall then. We don’t know how tall the woman is, but since she appears to be as tall as the man (or heels), call it above average say 5’6". 11.5’/5.5’ works out to 2.1. This site, [http://www.findmyshadow.com/](http://www.findmyshadow.com/) lets you plug in some numbers and locations and the sun position table gives you the height factor. 2.1 comes in at 5:00 around the first week of September. > > Lastly, “convent in Connecticut” Google search will come up with several hits, but I found: [Convent of the Sacred Heart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent_of_the_Sacred_Heart_(Connecticut)) in Greenwich, Connecticut. What’s interesting about it, is that there is a circular drive in front of the main building similar to what is in the photo. [Google Street View.](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0657812,-73.6943894,3a,42.3y,239.41h,94.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sru45GKIB_nECrgdyUPLPzQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) Unfortunately, that particular view isn’t quite right for the above analysis, and street view doesn’t go on around the circle drive. At any rate, if all of that follows, I think they’re taking a picture on the SW corner of the circle drive, with the main building obscured by the trees in the upper right. Uniforms then, instead of habits? So maybe the start of the fall term in 1967. September 5th, since September 4th was Labor Day in 1967. > > I could be completely wrong though. The man was 5’11 1/2’’ inches. Not sure of the woman’s height. I posted the address of the place in my most recent post before this one. I’m really liking your analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/27 "2017-07-09T01:54:51Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I’ve never seen a watch with 12 closest to the hand. It’s always been the 3. Can you provide any example of a wrist watch with a 12 nearest the hand? Heh, and facepalm. Well, to put a postive spin on things, that certainly jump-started the thread. And with that little orientation tidbit factored in, the watch does read a little after five o’clock. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/28 "2017-07-09T02:23:01Z")
Google maps [satellite view](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Notre+Dame+School+Sisters/@41.1723985,-73.4410425,292m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e81d38d541fb79:0xef14a4074c00bbaf!8m2!3d41.1723945!4d-73.440488). It’s apparently the same building – at least[this article](http://www.wiltonbulletin.com/82266/school-sisters-of-notre-dame-going-solar/) says the institution has been located there since 1961, and the buildings are “1950s modern.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/29 "2017-07-09T06:04:31Z")
If the young lady is in habit, I suspect that it is the habit of either a postulant or a novice (google images of SSND show that professed Sisters wore traditional habits,\* including wimples (my late aunt, by contrast, did not wear a wimple as a novice). If she is a postulant or novice, that photograph seems consistent with an end-of-summer visit from her family (or perhaps her family dropping her off to begin a new school year). The length of the shadows also appears consistent with late-ish afternoon while still in Daylight Saving Time, but not too long before the equinox (a matter of a couple of weeks, tops). So, I’m voting for early September. \*IIRC, traditional habits would still have been the norm in 1967, for most communities of nuns. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/30 "2017-07-09T07:40:35Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > If the young lady is in habit, I suspect that it is the habit of either a postulant or a novice (google images of SSND show that professed Sisters wore traditional habits,\* including wimples (my late aunt, by contrast, did not wear a wimple as a novice). If she is a postulant or novice, that photograph seems consistent with an end-of-summer visit from her family (or perhaps her family dropping her off to begin a new school year). > > The length of the shadows also appears consistent with late-ish afternoon while still in Daylight Saving Time, but not too long before the equinox (a matter of a couple of weeks, tops). So, I’m voting for early September. > > \*IIRC, traditional habits would still have been the norm in 1967, for most communities of nuns. If it helps, she turned 18 in late September 1967, although I don’t know what the rules were then. I know she completed High School in June 1967. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/31 "2017-07-09T07:49:05Z")
A second photo from the same day [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/TWna52s.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/CscTb) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/32 "2017-07-10T04:46:39Z")
That second photo is quite helpful, as the chapel wall above the auto’s tailfin faces almost due west. [Here’s a bird’s eye view to aid others.](https://binged.it/2uHdbKD) With such long shadows, and the sun’s position seemingly due west, it must be September (or March, which seems unlikely from the vegetation). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/33 "2017-07-10T04:54:00Z")
To the OP, why is the time of year important? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/34 "2017-07-10T06:03:22Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > If it helps, she turned 18 in late September 1967, although I don’t know what the rules were then. I know she completed High School in June 1967. Did she enter the convent with an intention to take the veil? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/35 "2017-07-10T06:42:01Z")
Too bad this isn’t a movie. There’d be a guy in the background reading a newspaper we could zoom and enhance. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/36 "2017-07-10T11:04:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Did she enter the convent with an intention to take the veil? Yes. She would have got away with it, too, if it weren’t for those darn kids. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/37 "2017-07-10T13:22:43Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Too bad this isn’t a movie. There’d be a guy in the background reading a newspaper we could zoom and enhance. When people started talking about the watch hands, I was hoping for a zoom in on a date counter… ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/38 "2017-07-10T14:06:22Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > To the OP, why is the time of year important? 1967 was a very important year in my family’s history. At some point in the year, my grandfather (the man pictured with my aunt in the OP)'s affair was uncovered and that ended my grandparents marriage. These are among a very few family photos I even have from the 1960s. Narrowing down when such an important, life-changing event happened is interesting to me. If my grandparents hadn’t split up, my mother’s life, for example, would’ve been completely different; she wouldn’t have been a mother at 17, for one. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/39 "2017-07-10T14:08:03Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Did she enter the convent with an intention to take the veil? From what I gather, yes. There is a later picture from September 1969 with her in more of the traditional habit. And an early 1970s picture with her fully as a Nun. I can’t be sure and say when exactly her time as a Nun ended, but I do know she used the Nunnery to get the fuck out of my grandparents’ house as soon as she could, at age 18. By the end of the 1970s, though, she had escaped from being a Nun. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513/40 "2017-07-10T14:11:36Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Too bad this isn’t a movie. There’d be a guy in the background reading a newspaper we could zoom and enhance. There is a movie shot this day, but it’s not aged well, it’s in quite poor condition. It would be hard to tell time of day from it. Some screencaps just to hammer home the poor quality of it: [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/zkaJHO9.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/A3wqS) In the second, you can see my grandfather accidentally catching his reflection in the glass, camera in hand [![](https://i.imgur.com/ICD59ln.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/ICD59ln.jpg) It’s for whatever reason one of the poorer quality home movies. We no longer have the original reels, just DVD copies. But the films span from 1962-1967 yet some of the '62, '63 era films look largely okay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-telling-what-time-of-year-it-is-in-this-photo/790513.md?page=1)