12/26/14
THE QUIET ART OF READING from Tattered and Lost
Now that Christmas has passed, I can be a bit more vocal about my latest creation since those who received it as a gift won't have had their surprise taken away by a post.
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading is a book that came about during a dinner conversation when reading became the topic of discussion. Since the future looks questionable for finding vintage snapshots with the advent of everything being digital, and so few people getting actual prints made, I wondered what would happen to images of people reading actual printed material. Will the future be just shots of people staring at antiseptic digital devices? Will photos of people actually holding printed material become a novelty? The hunt was on for a new category; I do so love categories. I love to immerse myself in a subject. This was a really joyous one to collect with most photos from the U. S., but Germany, France, England, and Japan are also represented.
If you love reading, appreciate the time you spend reading, and recognize that there is a certain beauty in the act of reading, then I think you'll enjoy the vernacular photographs in this book.
The book is available at Amazon and CreateSpace.
12/24/14
12/23/14
SEASON'S GREETINGS while waiting for Santa
From Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading available at Amazon
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Volume 6 available now!
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
WAITING for Santa
From Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading available at Amazon
_________________
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Volume 6 available now!
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/22/14
Now THIS IS A HAPPY KID with Santa
Eddy is long forgotten, replaced by this smiling kid with a full set of teeth.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I believe that this child grew up to be a weatherman in Phoenix. Each day he'd deliver the weather with the same smile:
Today it was HOT in Phoenix. Tomorrow it will be HOT in Phoenix. Next Thursday it will be HOT in Phoenix. In fact, I'm betting a month from now it's going to be HOT in Phoenix! This is Sam Lewis with the weather, back to you Janice and Jim.And maybe it's just me, but does this Santa look like someone in witness protection?
Click on image to see it larger.
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/21/14
Oh, eddy, Eddy, EDDY!
It will all be over soon. Take your candy cane from the nice man and move along. NEXT!
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/19/14
HOME for Christmas
I will be home for Christmas. A year in which two close family members died, and the news of a distant cousin's death came on Thursday.
Since my mother's death Christmas has become a difficult time each year. She passed on December 23rd, forever changing how I celebrate.
This photo drew me in as soon as I saw it because it reminded me of the table setting at my maternal grandparent's home in Pennsylvania, including the bird cages. I look at it and I'm a little girl again, excited to be sitting at the table with everyone.
Click on image to see it larger.
But this table is someone else's memory. The note on the bottom of the photo says a lot:
Christmas 1945 • Bill home from warThere's a lot to think about with this shot, no matter how simple it appears. Was this Bill's family home? Or was it the home he shared with his wife? Did Bill return from the war physically and mentally unscathed?
There are a lot of dinner tables that will be celebrating returned loved ones on Thursday. People broken by war sitting amongst family who now feel like strangers. Awkward conversations with close friends whose lives moved in different directions. Memories of the horrors they've seen and unable or unwilling to share those memories with those who stayed home. Momentary vacant stares, searching for a memory, good or bad, that somehow makes sense of why they are seated at the table.
So here's to the families who must struggle to find Christmas each year because of the cards they were dealt in life. Some of us have to search a little harder to find meaning in the holidays, sometimes time is all we have to work with. And sometimes time is enough.
This is my holiday contribution to Sepia Saturday.
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS with...
I really like the graphics on this card, but what the heck is the child holding? It looks like some sort of farm/garden tool. It's little left hand…what is it touching? Should it be touching whatever it's touching? I keep thinking the thing turns and bye bye baby hand is next.
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/18/14
Santa Baby, TURN AWAY FROM THE CAMERA
Santa Baby has learned his lesson and is now turning away his black and blue (and various other colors) face away from the camera. And apparently someone has been in messing around with the puppets behind him because there are subtle changes.
Click on image to see it larger.
_________________
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/17/14
SANTA BABY
Oh Santa, what a horrible makeup job you have. Or did you meet an unruly elf in an alley that really really didn't like you?
Click on image to see it larger.
_________________
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/15/14
A little TO THE LEFT
Do you put the star on first or last?
Click on image to see it larger.
It's real.
_________________
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Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/14/14
Uncle Harry LOVED TO HAVE HIS PICTURE TAKEN
How disappointed were these people when they got the shot back from the drugstore? Or maybe this was something Uncle Harry always did; it was his signature for all of his photos. Harry always hated not being in the shots until he figured out a way to do it. The women knew Harry was a bit odd and were willing to play along to make him happy and keep peace in the family. The teenage daughter wasn't willing to cut Uncle Harry any slack. She knew he was nuts and thought his loud ties were the worst. But he was her only uncle so she'd tolerate these once a year photo shoots. It was only when Harry brought out his photo albums that she finally said, "That's it! I'm going to the movies with the gang."
Click on image to see it larger.
To see a couple other shots of this young girl click here and here.
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Volume 6 available now!
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/10/14
Taking the train for some MEXICALI BEER
I'm not even sure where I bought this snapshot which shows, I'm guessing, some American folk in Mexico for a little Mexicali Beer. The one sign says "Cantina Pullman Buffet" so I presume a day trip to Mexico by train was common.
Click on image to see it larger.
If we get the kind of rain in the next 24 hours that's been predicted I might not need a train to get to Mexico. I might be able to just step out my front door and float there. I'm not complaining. I'm loving the rain. I'm even loving watching my yard become its own little flood zone.
UPDATE: Here's a link to a postcard which puts this photo into perspective showing the surrounding area. Thank you Intense Guy!
http://thebarefootphotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/from-barefoot-files.html
_________________
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Volume 6 available now!
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading
12/7/14
The MYSTERY WOMAN at Morgan Park, Chicago in 1897
There's something familiar about this woman, but I can't put my finger on it. I keep thinking she's a time-traveling-celebrity, but which one?
Click on images to see them larger.
At some point this woman visited Morgan Park in Chicago. Morgan Park has quite a history. That's all I know about this vintage snapshot.
Click on image to see them larger.
_________________
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Volume 6 will be for sale soon!
12/3/14
NORVELINE at Wallace High in 1947-48
This beautiful little girl was named Normeline, at least that's how I interpret what is on the back of the photo. However, WJY from The New Found Photography has said it's probably Norveline, so I have changed the name in the title. (You can see WJY's comment below in the update and as a standalone comment.) She was ten years old when this shot was taken. I did a search of Wallace High and got mostly schools in Scotland and England. This looks more like a US school photo so I'm guessing it has to be a school stateside, but where?
When you think of a school photo, I believe, you can't help but think back to when you had your own school photos taken. Your mother usually dressed you nice for the occasion and there was a lot of pressure to stay clean, not rumpled, for this oh so precious shot. Then you'd stand in line waiting your turn to be called forward for your moment of dread. Who was that person taking your picture? You'd never seen them before. You'd never see them again. You couldn't really see them at all because of the bright light. And then this stranger in the darkness is telling you to smile. What if you didn't want to smile? Then "poof" there was a quick flash and you were told to move on. You hoped your mom would be proud when she saw the shot.
School photos are about the same size as a photobooth shot, but the circumstances couldn't be less similar. The photobooth has the opportunity to take a "real" photo of you, or at least the you you want to project. A school photo is sort of like a mug shot.
UPDATE: from WJY:
Try Norveline, pronounced, and sometimes spelled, Norvelyn. It's the feminine version of Norvill, often shortened to Norv, like the football coach, Norv Turner._________________
As far as a sixth grader in high school, that's easy to explain. In the Jim Crow south, it was illegal for blacks and whites to attend the same school. It was fairly common for all the black kids to be crammed into a single, first through twelfth grade building. Some of these schools only had a few class rooms, so, a forth grader and a tenth grader might end up in the same English class.
Interesting fact. Public education in the pre-Civil War south was more of an exception than a rule. It wasn't until reconstruction, when southern state and local governments were dominated by freed slaves, that primary and secondary education became free and compulsory for all children. So, if you're a white kid in modern day Alabama, you have former slaves to thank for having an education.
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12/1/14
Sweet ADOLESCENCE
There's something in the tilt of her head, the look in her eyes, that is older than her years. A beautiful girl from long ago alone in a photobooth. It would be so nice to see the other shots in the series to see if she looked more like a child. I have no information about her.
_________________
to find the perfect gifts for those hard to buy for friends.
Volume 6 will be for sale soon!
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