Photographer’s studios, like any business, have to innovate to survive. Over the years they have come up with all manner of gimmicks and offers to attract the weary eye. The photographer’s studio here offered a rudimentary superimposed, photo collage technique that could place a treasured photo of a loved one in the shot too.
This photo dates from the 1940s, and shows a soldier, with a bone china complexion and slightly sun burnt nose, writing a letter home. With pen in hand, he looks up longingly from the page for a moment, where his eye-line meets the image of his beloved wife and child, backlit and inset. Although this image may look a little saccharine now, no doubt when it was received, it melted hearts.
Nigel Martin Shephard
THE FAMILY MUSEUM 
Trying to work out the logistics of this! I assume the soldier gave the studio a personal photo to copy (is it a Polyfoto shot?), and they took care of everything else? Judging from the number out there most serving soldiers were content to just send a regular portrait postcard home from wherever they were serving (indeed during WW1 it seems photographers were allowed onto army camps to provide this service). This was clearly done with a lot of care and thought, does the back give us any clues as to where it was done?
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