Michigan USA-1961: Man Practicing Water Skiing on Lake

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1961
Decade1960s
LocationMichigan, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1961 Michigan

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Man Practicing Water Skiing on Lake — Clip Details

Vintage 1961 home movie footage from Michigan USA shows a man water skiing on a calm lake. Filmed on 8mm film, the clip captures a shirtless man in patterned swim trunks gliding across the water, holding a tow rope with an orange float. The grainy, slightly faded color palette and soft focus evoke authentic retro nostalgia. The sequence includes a close-up of the skier smiling, a view from a boat showing the wake, and a final moment where he loses balance and falls into the water. The footage has natural film grain, subtle color shifts, and a handheld camera feel, characteristic of personal summer vacation recordings from the early 1960s.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 121080520

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 2015 · 8mm · 3″ reel
Original reel label: xmas,linda communion,,d danielar
Reel-level year note: 1961-1962
Reel-level location note: detroit michigan,
Date: 1961 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: Michigan, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for requests needing early 1960s U.S. summer recreation footage, especially documentary or educational sequences about water skiing, lake leisure, or family vacation activity.
Period detail: The 8mm color home-movie look, swimwear, small motorboat viewpoint, and water-ski equipment support a 1961 Michigan lake setting as provided by the clip metadata.
Home-movie behavior: The footage has unstaged family-recording value, following an adult man practicing on water skis from both the lake and boat perspective as he smiles, rides, and struggles to balance.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a shirtless skier, patterned swim trunks, tow rope with orange float, lake water, boat hardware, wake spray, shoreline trees, and a fall into the water.
Film character: The clip shows soft 8mm focus, visible grain, slight color fading, handheld framing, and exposure shifts that read as authentic physical home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief recreation insert, lake-life cutaway, summer memory beat, or transition within a sequence about midcentury leisure.
Historical context: The scene documents everyday recreational water skiing in a personal home-movie context without showing identifiable landmarks, organized competition, or public event details.
Research note: People and faces are visible, so likeness review may be needed, while no logos, brands, minors, audible music, private interiors, or clearly identifiable private property are visible in the supplied frames.
Research search match: Relevant searches include 1961 Michigan water skiing home movie, 8mm lake recreation footage, early 1960s man water skiing, and vintage boat-towed skier falling.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent footage from the same reel, then other 1961 Michigan lake or boating material, then broader 1960s summer recreation and water-sports home movies.

Still Frames From This Clip

In 1961 Michigan home-movie footage, a shirtless adult man in swim trunks rides water skis across a lake while holding a tow rope with an orange float nearby. — Water skier riding behind the boat.

A closer 1961 Michigan frame shows the adult skier smiling as he glides over lake water, gripping the tow rope while spray rises around his skis. — Skier gliding through lake spray.

From the boat, a shirtless adult man in a white cap sits near the steering wheel and looks back over the lake during the water-skiing outing. — Boat passenger looking back over the water.

The adult skier appears to lose balance and fall into the Michigan lake, with white spray and a water ski visible beside him. — Skier losing balance in the water.

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