3 kings

in the dark

Last week Miles took me to 'Scrap'- a junkyard meets craft store thrifting hybrid in Bayview. The place was amazing...walls of old National Geographics, crates of old 45's, canvas, yarn, old photos. wood, cloth, etc etc etc. While there I scored a handful of old photos as well as some super rad slides. I love this photo because its such a simple mess up with its bleached out tones and lack of focus. Ive also been really into the subtle overlapping of shapes and tones all around me, and though this isnt too subtle, it certainly has triangles and rectangles that carry over throughout the photo.
I just cant get over how much I love found photos. I plan on making this one into a birthday card, but first im going to use it to make a drawing in paint. Exciting!

1953

Nostalgic for company picnics that I've never known. Do people still do this? Do companies rent out parks and lakes for an afternoon of watermelon and kite racing? Probably not as no company I work for has ever done such a thing. One time we did get a houseboat for an afternoon though, that kind of ruled. Another Found Photo. Another time I dont know. This photo is pure Americana to me and I love it.

Passport?

Another found photo. Actually, its kind of a stolen photo. It was in the lost and found drawer at work for a really long time and I decided its fate was better than a garbage can. It looks like a passport photo, or maybe just a childs class photo. I wonder when it was taken, and how it ended up on the floor of Whole Foods.

Elderly Couple, San Rafael.

I have no recollection of this time. It wasnt mine, it isn't mine. I can speculate the era it was stolen from, and I can piece together the lives of these two with my imagination and my thumb. The only solid story I can write includes Sonoma County and a photographer names Paul Strahm. I've always loved the name Paul which is odd as its my bastard Fathers name. I could google a Paul Strahm but what fun would that be? I found this photo a few years back, tucked into another forgotten drawer in a stack of beautiful forgotten photos. Someone had died and all his or hers possessions had been donated, atleast the mementos nobody wanted. But I wanted this photo and its hung thumbtacked to a collaged wall in whatever house I've lived in since. Its a haunting photo. The relationship of these two is difficult to read, are they husband and wife? Brother and Sister? Why does she look so much older than he? Is it in her shapeless dress and pulled back hair? His suit is nice and fits well, he has a hankerchief in his breast pocket. Her glasses are gold-rimmed, her ears sit low. He looks impossible upon first glance, but his eyes aren't that scary. Who knows who these people are. Who knows why they mean so much to me, and why I hang this photo near me wherever I am. Do you like this photo? What do you think of it?