Attacked by Fashion

Foxes. Hat Sharks.

A Feather in Your Cap, A Feather in Your Nest

The impulse to collect things is one of the most agreeable things about people. Of course, I would say that, since I make my living providing them with the objects of their desire. The reasons they accumulate what they do, and the strategies they use, and how they define what they're after is always interesting to me. And the variety is pretty much endless. It occurs to me now that most of the blogs I enjoy are maintained by collectors, or artists, or both.

One of the smartest people I know, in the long course of writing a dissertation about Native American imagery in the modern art of Germany, found some relief in collecting images that were sort of tangentially related to her topic. She started acquiring pictures of non-native Americans dressing themselves in costume, and eventually assembled a neat little collection. She graciously agreed to let me share a few of her prizes here.

The picture below is the scholar/collector herself. And below that, your correspondent, striking his usual contrarian pose.

More Moon Shots

A few more photos from the first moon landing, as photographed from the TV in someone's living room. The blue tube floats on a black field, carrying the vague, low-definition images.

If you have a little time to kill, Google "moon landing hoax" and read some of the doubters' rationale for why this event never happened. Not that that has anything to do with collecting these snapshots, except for proving how information breaks down as it is removed from the source, just like these images.

Happy Valentine's Day

"bowlegged mamma all way from yumyummer."

Unmailed real photo postcard, c. 1925.

Not Diane Arbus

Sometimes a found object strongly recalls the work of a famous artist. If someone secretly mounted this in an exhibition of Diane Arbus photographs, I wonder if anyone would question its presence.

All Torn Up

Among my favorite vernacular photo images is a group of worn and defaced photos that were then reassembled. These were found together in a small album, with notes indicating they were all from a small town in southwestern Virginia. They look almost like stamp-size photobooth images, torn up and then pasted down on cardstock. With them was a photo of a young man on a donkey with a tripod, and I've always thought he was the (itinerant) photographer and the maker of the assemblages.

The last one, from another source, is a cheap tin cigarette case with six half-tone pictures of, I assume, the owner. He added a little flair with the red paint at the edge.