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November 30, 2007
The Upside-down Train Ride
As I mentioned here previously sometime early next year I'm going to be adding some videos from my home movie collection to the site. Due to bandwidth restrictions I'll probably have to use youtube to host them. Here's a quick sample: it's a shot of train ride from the 1930s that the maker decided to cut out and splice back into the original film upside-down and backwards. Given some the other films of his I have I'm sure it was completely intentional. Enjoy!
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November 29, 2007
The Girls Of Tau Delta Phi
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November 28, 2007
November
Posted by nick at 11:55 PM | Comments (1)
November 27, 2007
In The American Night
Posted by nick at 11:23 PM | Comments (1)
November 26, 2007
The Man On The Roof
I recently acquired one the stranger series of photographs I've come across- it's a set of about 150 photos (all out of one album) of a man modeling women's bikini bottoms. The photos were taken over the course of 6 years- the bulk of them in 1966 and 1968 on a YMCA rooftop. I really want to post the whole lot over at Square America but I'm not sure if I should- it's definitely NSFW (as you might expect the bikinis are pretty tight and leave very little to the imagination). At the same time it's a fascinating record of one man's obsession and as such fully deserves a place on the site. Maybe I'll do a small set of 30 or so of the tamer ones and have a seperate link to the full run. Anyway here's a couple.
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November 23, 2007
A Visit To The Grand View
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November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Posted by nick at 12:15 AM | Comments (2)
November 21, 2007
Rat Catching
Three entries from a 1922 contest run by the Victor trap company. The photos were supposed to show multiple catches in the same trap. What the prize might have been- that I don't know.
Posted by nick at 01:51 AM | Comments (1)
November 20, 2007
Nothing That Moves Misses Being Seen
Every time I go to a flea market I tell myself don't buy anymore photos of babies or little kids, no matter however abstract/surreal they may be. I have too many already and invariably every time I buy one as soon as I get home I'll take another look at the photo, kick myself for buying it, and throw it into the scrap box. Of course on Sunday I bought another one:
I didn't pick it up for the image though; I picked it up for the inscription on the back:
I'm guessing this is a quote from somewhere (it's just way too cool not to be) though a google search turned up empty- anyone recognize it? The photo probably dates from the early 1930s so it'd have to be from something before then. Anyway, I was so knocked out by the inscription that I let my guard down and bought these two inscriptionless photos from the same lot.
Posted by nick at 01:28 AM | Comments (3)
November 18, 2007
The Way Of All Flesh Revisited (Again)
Some of you may remember a series of photos I posted a while back of one woman as she aged over course of 50 years or so that I titled The Way Of All Flesh. I got the photos about 6 months ago so imagine my surprise today when I came across this photo at a completely different flea market (and from a different dealer as well).
Now clearly it's the same girl- compare it this photo from the original series - the above photo dated 8-12-49, the one below dated August 1949.
Here's another that pair- the first I got today, the second is from the original series.
Of course the original photos were just of the girl and in the new ones she's with someone who must be her brother. I have to admit while I was excited (and more than a little shocked) to stumble across these photos I was a bit disappointed as well; the original series was just so perfect- no photos of anyone but the woman herself- that I really never wanted to find any more photos of her. Of course once I saw these I couldn't unsee them so I figured I'd spoil it for everybody else as well.
This is most likely the house she grew up in. It's a typical Chicago-style bungalow of which there are thousands so it's unlikely I'd ever be able to figure out where it is.
Interestingly, this lot was mostly of the brother- the two photos above are the only ones with the girl (or anyone else) in them.
The first is dated 12-19-44
This one 8/11/45
Chronologically the next would be the photobooth of the boy and the girl posted above followed by this one dated January 1951.
This pair is dated 4-20-52
Unfortunately, the series ends with this photobooth strip (undated) so we don't get to see him age as we did his sister.
Now how did these turn up 6 months later at a different market and from a different dealer? Who knows- dealers sell to each other all the time so it's possible the dealer I got them from today bought them from that other dealer and just didn't put them out until now- I did ask him where he got them and he told me he'd done 4 estate clean-outs this week and they came from one of those estates. If so, is it possible that the brother just recently passed away himself and these photos were part of his estate?
The American mystery deepens.
Posted by nick at 11:49 PM | Comments (15)
November 16, 2007
A Party
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November 15, 2007
Lighter Than Air
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November 14, 2007
The National Gallery and website news
I just got back from my talk at the National Gallery and I have to say that it was a pretty amazing experience. Everyone involved at the gallery was incredibly professional (and nice to boot!). The curators of the show Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner both made me feel very welcome and it was a real treat to get to talk to them about amateur photography. Most importantly, they really took the snapshot seriously and produced the best show (and the one most true to what the snapshot really is) to date. The catalogue, The Art of the American Snapshot 1888-1978, is also a model of scholarship and a must have for any serious collector (plus the photos, all drawn from the collection of Robert Jackson -a good friend with as good a collection as I've ever seen and probably will ever see- are outstanding. My talk was called "The Innocent Eye? The Snapshot and the Collector." I'm planning to turn the talk into an essay I'll post over at Square America though I think the essay will probably end up being about 50% the talk I actually gave, 25% the talk I intended to give (but due to some inexcusibly poor planning and my very real fear of public speaking) but didn't, and 25% the talk that in hindsight I probably should have given. I think the talk went okay. It seemed to be pretty well received but it could have been (and really should have been) much better. On the plus side I think I handled the actual public speaking part of it pretty well and hopefully in the future I'll be less anxious about that.
Now for a bit of news- I'm planning a major website redesign over at Square America for sometime next year (probably March). Basically I'll be adding a bunch of bells and whistles- most importantly the ability to search by date, location, etc... This means I'm going to have to go back and tag all of the more than 4000 photos currently on the site. I'm also hoping to double the number of photos on the site by the time of the re-launch as it currently only reflects a portion of my collection. I'll also be adding video from my collection of home movies though at this point I'm not sure I'll integrate them into the site. I'd be interested if anyone has any suggestions for things they'd like to see me do. For instance, would the ability to tag photos yourselves make the site more useful for you? I'll still be doing the same kinds of curated shows I do now I just want to allow viewers a little more freedom in how they move through the site. Let me know what you think!
Posted by nick at 09:10 AM | Comments (7)
November 13, 2007
Jimmy August 9, 1946 Seattle
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November 12, 2007
Veteran's Day
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November 02, 2007
An Important Announcement and a Plea for Help!
If any reader is going to be in the Washington D.C. area next Saturday 11/10, I'll be speaking at a symposium at The National Gallery of Art in conjunction with their show "The Art of the American Snapshot." Among the other speakers will be Stephen Shore (wow!) and Bill Hunt another snapshot collector who in real life runs the amazing Hasted-Hunt gallery in NYC. The symposium will run from 1-5pm and promises to be really interesting so stop by if you can. The show iteself runs through the end of the year and I'd urge anyone with an interest in snapshots to check it out (or at least pick up the catalogue). To my mind it's the best Snapshot exhibition that's been done to date and a serious must-see! Now for my plea for help- part of my presentation will deal with the influence of outside imagery in snapshots and I'd like to use the following to photos among others.
The problem is, while I know the top photo is based on a painting, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the painting or who painted it! As for the second photo- does anyone know what church this is or more importantly what's the biblical episode portrayed in the bas-relief they're imitating (or I hope they're imitating)? If I had to guess I'd say Adam's expulsion from Eden but I really don't know and would prefer not to make a fool of myself at the National Gallery! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by nick at 02:37 PM | Comments (9)
November 01, 2007
Happy (Belated) Halloween
How could I have forgotten Halloween??? Well it's a day late and at least a dollar short but here are some costume photos to make it up to everybody. And if you've never seen Costume Party over at Square America don't you think it's about time you did?
Posted by nick at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)