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January 23, 2008
My Back Pages
It's been frigid here in Chicago lately and that and the fact that I've been a bit under the weather has kept me cooped up in my apartment for the last few days. More out of boredom than anything I decided to look through some boxes of photos that I haven't been through in a while. Now I should mention how my collection is organized (or not organized). Basically when I get home from shopping at the antique market I go through everything I've purchased and put anything I really like into plastic sleeves which then get stored in plastic bins. Stuff I think is good but not great go into plastic bins but without being sleeved and finally everything that I wish I hadn't bought- of which there are always a few- get tossed into big boxes. There was a time when I knew pretty much what was in each of the plastic bins (both the sleeved and unsleeved photos) but unfortunately that day has passed and especially when I'm looking through some of the unsleeved stuff I come across things I'd completely forgotten I'd had and it's those unsleeved photos I've been going through the last few days. Generally, I find that any time I go through one of these bins I find a few things that now seem worthy of being sleeved so I thought I'd post a few today.
This one I really like and is perfect for The Book of Sleep so I'm not sure how it ended up in one of these bins in the first place.
These next two aren't as good but might make into a show I want to do on smoking.
This one's a pretty extraordinary photo though I'm not sure it'll ever make it onto Square America. I wish I could remember where I got it as it might give me a better clue about where the photo was taken- I'd guess Wisconsin or Michigan which were logged extensively in the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of the lumber floated down rivers to Chicago.
Mostly though I found photographs like this which I'm not really sure what I'll ever do with.
I do think I've lost something as my collection has grown. When my collection was smaller I could remember where I got almost every photo- the market I got it from, the dealer, whether it came from an album or out of a loose box of photos etc..., the photos becoming almost a personal diary of sorts. But about a year or so ago the collection reached a kind of critical mass and all that information was just flushed from my memory. Sure there are plenty of photos that I do remember all the details of but the vast majority I don't. And while this loss of context is minor- especially in light of the major loss of context that occurs when the photos, whether through death or disinterest, are taken from family albums and brought to the market in first place- it's still a loss, though perhaps just a personal one. Of course, my project here and on Square America is at least in part to recontextualize these photos into some kind of narrative (a narrative that I hope is driven by the photos themselves rather than imposed on them by me) but it's one that seems more and more difficult for me- just as the photographs have overrun my apartment the countless narratives they suggest overwhelm anything I could begin to do on the site. Edenbaum Schreiber's mailbox (or more likely the Edenbaum's and the Schreiber's) creates it's own narrative- it doesn't need me.
Posted by nick at January 23, 2008 11:50 PM
Comments
Actually, in my humble (and unrequested) opinion, I like all these pictures. They stand up to any of the others I've seen @ Square America.
It's all in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but think the smoking pics rock. One's so moody, the other lighthearted. Both seem posed, but might as easily be candids in their way (catching what no one expected to catch).
I dunno the original dimensions of the pictures. But when I was scanning a bunch of looseleaf family pics that cover roughly a century, some were no bigger than a postage stamp. Yet they had the resolution to be scanned and greatly enlarged so the details, the faces of those in the pictures etc., could really be seen.
Maybe in some of your found pictures, even if they're easily viewed with the naked eye, their details are coming forward as the stories of their discovery recede. The sleeper is almost lost in the haystack, but later on you've found him.
Anyway, many thanks for finding & posting all these cool pictures.
Posted by: Kevin Seward at January 24, 2008 08:53 AM
well, certainly a narrative is created when you combine these photos the way you do. but that's the goal in arranging these. you do it so well - i can trace numerous themes through the threads. that's the mark of a creative curator. and that's why so many of us enjoy your site.
Posted by: shahn at January 24, 2008 09:16 AM
another set of good pictures
Posted by: sir jorge at January 24, 2008 12:47 PM
The guy sleeping on the haystack is fantastic.
Have to agree with the other commenter - the smoking pics are totally fun.
Posted by: mike in oly at January 28, 2008 12:21 PM
I like the sleeper-on-the-haystack.
I don't think it's that simple.
It's too coarse for hay or even straw.
There are white patches, that look like snow, even on his back and elbow.
Yet there is the handle of a rake or pitchfork on top, implying the stack was being built.
Maybe snow at harvest-time is what prompted the taking of the photo ? Or is the white the crop itself - we don't have cotton or alfalfa over here !
Posted by: Only Me at June 22, 2008 07:57 PM