Posted by Wade on May 07, 2001 at 18:00:12:
In Reply to: Slide Pulling posted by Chuck(G) on May 07, 2001 at 16:35:38:
The photo is reversed. This is common in photos involving instruments. Why? I don't know. I just look at photos; the ones that I take usually stink.
HOWEVER...
The proof is found in the way this dude's buttons are done up. Male clothing usually buttons in the opposit manner, while women's wear (until recently) was done in the manner that this guy is showing. I SERIOUSLY doubt that someone paid to have a custom left-handed tuba built as well as paying for a tailor to make him a "backwards" uniform coat.
At the time of this photo (1890 - 1920), schools were still "correcting" left-handedness by forcing children to write, eat, etc. with the right hand (hence the terms right - "correct" - and left - as in "left over" or "other"). Bone-headed teachers at MY OWN elementary school tried to "correct" me as well, so I have looked into this subject a bit over the years.
An excellent example of an accidental reversal of a negative is the sudden switch to custom left-handed instruments by the Empire Brass on the cover of Class Brass (I think...one of the EBQ's CDs, anyway...)
The combination of a highly unusual tuba with a reversed band uniform (they all have to match, so the entire unit would have to have backwards coats as well) makes it more likely that the photo was merely flipped.
Wade