Ripped memories

Quite a few family history researchers I've spoken to have come across torn or damaged photos in their family's collections. Why do these photos get partly destroyed? I suppose there are a few reasons - split marriages, convenience, wear and tear. I've included a few bits of photographs in this blog entry from my own family's collection of ripped memories. Do you have similar photo remnants and do you know why they are not in their full original state?

This is a photo of my father, Carew NORTHCOTE (Junior), when he was about 2 years old. It was taken at the back of the Royal Hotel (now the Ten Dollar Motel) at Gulgong NSW in about 1934. My father is being held by his uncle, Carew NORTHCOTE (Senior), who was the publican of the hotel at the time. My grandmother, Ellen NORTHCOTE (nee Keneally/ Kenelley), is standing next to Carew Senior. We think the woman whose face is partly cut off in the photograph may have been Carew Northcote's wife, Edie, or his daughter, Joyce. We're not sure why the photo has been torn across the bottom - perhaps it was folded at one stage and the bottom section just fell off and was discarded.

The younger of the two flowergirls in the wedding photograph below is my grandmother, Lily Anne (or Ann) KINGSBURY. We think the photo was taken around 1906 when Lily was about 4 years old. The other people in the photograph have yet to be identified. The photograph was more than likely taken in Sydney.

Of all the ripped and damaged photos we have collected so far in our family, this is the most mysterious ... whose feet are these, what period of history do the shoes appear to fit into, where is the upper section of the photograph, why was this torn photograph kept?