Featured Old photo of woman in a porthole?

Afternoon (uk time)! This photo was part of a bundle I picked up recently… no clues as to who or when it was taken, but suspect 1960s ish. Does anyone know what kind of porthole this might be? Hyperbaric chamber? It’s blurred so hard to see details. Any thoughts? The photo’s surface is very matte, almost velvety to touch. Unfortunately it is firmly stuck to a mounting board. Image is about 25x20cm.

 

Could she have been in a diving bell/submarine ride at a bygone amusement park, was she a performer in a mermaid show like they have at Coral Gables,FL ?

 

Isn't she the one who's in the water? The black part above her head looks like hair in water.

 

Thanks… yes, it looks like she has long hair, and wearing a necklace too? A lot of the other photos are American, but I haven’t sorted through them yet. I bought them because I was intrigued by this one!

 

Thanks for sending out the Bat Signal on this one-a most perplexing confabulation Master Bruce !

 

Valentina Tereshkova weightlessness training image?

 

Now there’s a thought. I wondered if it might relate to space rather than under water.

I think I’ve identified the family the other photos relate to, the Force / Dunlap family with connections to California. But it’s getting a bit late here and my brain is frazzled. Just for your amusement, Grok thought it might be Amelia Earhart… pretty sure AI just makes stuff up sometimes!

 

it makes stuff up.... all the time !!!
only gets it right...sometimes..

 

@komokwa Agreed! Important to be very careful when using it. I still prefer to do my research the ‘old fashioned’ way

 

With the photo flipped, the hair appears to hang straight down... the effect of gravity. If in a weightlessness environment, wouldn't the hair be floating all over? Though I suppose the photo could have been taken before the exercise began.
Also, I can't find any photos using such small tanks for zero gravity training. Or are we looking through a window into a larger tank? (But again, the hair is hanging straight down instead of floating all over.)
(Valentina Tereshkova had much shorter hair than this woman so I don't think it's her.)
It looks like she's wearing a heavy-duty type of harness so hyperbaric chamber is doubtful.
Such an interesting mystery!

 

@bluumz You’ve made me wonder if I had the photo upside down? I assumed the person is in water and the hair floating upwards, but that might not be the case. Of course, the face is now the wrong way… but who knows? It’s very odd!

 

my first thought was a sensory deprivation or isolation tank

........a bit like in stranger things

not sure when they were invented though

 

1950s

 

I still question the hair floating upwards so uniformly in water.
I thought the woman was on her back laying on something (sling?) with her head hanging back and down.

 

Have you cropped the photograph? If so, may we see it uncropped?

Debora

 

More photos… the frame mount has partly come away so you can see the thickness of the photo paper and dried glue.

 

The photo is bundled with others that are related to Alice R Force b1877 from Selma, Alabama, and her daughter Laura Dunlap b1899. Maybe it’s Alice in the mystery photo (which would probably make it earlier in date)? The family moved to California where the attached photo was taken. Laura is number 15 and there’s a list of names on the back.

 

doesn't look right upside down............looks....upside down

 

I know, right?! I’m all confuddled now!

 

I think the photo is oriented correctly in the first photo shown. She is standing under the hole with her arms to her sides, eyes closed and looking up. I question whether it's a porthole she's looking through but haven't thought of anything else yet.