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I found this wall covered in postcards and scraps from far and wide in an abandoned place in Paris quite some years ago, and came across these images while going through some photos in preparation for a small book project. A first book is off to the publisher, and a second is soon to follow... self published of course, no book deals in the works here yet. (:-) But for some reason this scrapbooked wall seemed appropriate, someone was publishing their own book here, and left it as a creation when they moved on. The place has no doubt long since been bulldozed, but at least these pictures remain to attest that someone pinned up all these odds and ends. Will no doubt post more info here about the books that are in the works when they come off the press, so stay tuned if curious to see what has been percolating on a back burner over the holidays. And may your new year be full of messages from far and wide, postcards to tack up on walls, scraps to glue in the scrapbooks of your life, and happiness, health, love, wealth... and whatever else you may be hankering after.
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31 comments:
Note to self : Must get out to visit more blogs more often in 2012... Have been so busy toward end of 2011 that I missed a lot... Best wishes to all !
How wonderful! I have been beginning on that very same "note to self" and here I am. Paris ... I was there as a college graduation gift from and WITH my big sister in the summer of 1970. Sometimes I remember how it sounded, the smells, everything. That wall is priceless.
You are welcome to stop by chez French Girl any time, dear Owen. Bonne annee a toi aussi! Things I am hankering after you said... Hmmm... A pied-a-terre in Nice. A real Chanel bag. A "grown up" camera and the lessons that will teach me how to use it as creatively as you use yours. More sun in Seattle. More and more readers and followers for my fun little blog. I think I will stop here. I don't want to come across as too greedy ;-) Veronique-la-gourmande (French Girl in Seattle)
Owen, This is an amazing board of photos. I can't wait to see what your books hold for us. You have an eye like no other. I can't wait to share Paris with you soon.
V
No way?! You guys are meeting in Paris soon?! I am jea-lous!!! Veronique
I love it! What an unusual but very interesting place to find a sort of scrapbook. Best of luck with the book projects!
Happy 2012!
What an incredible story is represented here... fair sets the mind adrift!
Scrapbooking for those who can't be bothered with scrapbooking. Excellent. If you stick something on a wall, does that make it art? I mean other than obvious things like light switches and thermostats. And spaghetti that you toss at the wall to see if it's cooked. Though, I guess if you throw enough of it, over time, it could become art. Especially if you applied shellac. Or gold paint. Gold paint turns everything into art. Especially if one is Italian. I like spaghetti. If I type random thoughts, is it spam? If I throw spam at the wall, is it spaghetti?
Oh, what a marvelous collection that unknown person tacked onto that wall....and made for posterity since you captured it with your camera. I had a great time looking as closely as possible at various cards. They really are all quite grand.
Speaking of old postcards, I have an old postcard from New Years 1912 to share this week at Old Postcard Wednesday...
News of your upcoming book thrills and excites me and I am anxious to learn more. I'm so glad you are doing this project, Owen, as your photography is worthy of being shared "far and wide."
Happy New Year!
Ca me rend toute triste de savoir que ça a disparu... C'est tellement beau.
Mais heureusement ta photo est là pour témoigner. Merci.
Belle année à toi, pleine de découvertes et de merveilles encore.
What a pity that the wall of photos no longer exist. So much history and life recorded on it. It's great that you have captured it all with your own photographs.
What a fascinating collection. Snapshots of someone's personality captured by you! I love how they were all found together like this, how they're connection by the place too.
Jess :)
Happy New Year 2012 - and those scrapbook wall pix are quite delightful - look forward to finding out more about those books being published...
Hi Jeaneane, am thrilled if this brought back some vivid memories from long ago, it is good to look back, far back from time to time. And funny, I too was in Paris in the Summer of 1970, as a ten year old kid, with parents and two brothers... and lots of indelible memories from that trip. Could be the seeds were planted then for coming back as an adult much later in life... be well !!!
Ah Véronique, tu es toute à fait un peu gourmande... oui, indiscutable, surtout pour un sac Chanel. Mais bon, reste comme ça, il nous faut des rêves. Mais tu ne souhaites pas avoir aussi un apartement de 200 m² avec vue sur la Seine et Notre Dame ? Moi, j'aimerais. Et oui, et l'appareil photo de mes rêves... un Canon EOS 1D par exemple, avec plein d'objectifs ! Et oui, moi aussi, je rêve, et suis largement gourmand... oh, et cette maison en Bretagne avec vue sur mer ??? :-)
Bonne année Véro, merci pour tes visites, tu me fais sourire, et ça c'est bon pour le coeur ...
Hi Virginia, à bientôt alors... hope to see you soon... you have my phone ? 336 16 78 41 27...
Plein de souvenirs dans ces images épinglées au mur. Incroyable que ceci ait pu rester abandonné sans être défiguré avant ton passage !
En attendant tes livres, je vais continuer à te suivre ici...
Amicalement
Images which can still be heard.
Concratulations upon the books. Please have a good Wednesday.
I've changed my glasses to get a better look at the items pinned to the wall...
Have a good year, Owen, you and your family.
Hey James, all best wishes for you in 2012 too, plenty of photo ops, and an abundance of reflections !
Hi Steve, my mind may have been cut loose and set adrift some years ago, which could explain a lot of things... :-) But these do give cause for quite a bit of contemplation and a sense of wonder as to who did this, and why they left them there...
Lynne, honestly, now how do you expect my poorly oxygenated brain to keep up with all your meanderings and spaghetti heavings against the wall to hide the spam that got stuck there ? I think you have the setting all outlined here for a perfect new reality TV show, as if the world needs another, but the characters could sit in a kitchen with full, copiously large, pots of spaghetti in tomato sauce at hand, and then proceed to launch by ladle fulls across the kitchen great splattering masses of spaghetti at each other until all were totally plastered by it. This would be done while drinking red wine of course, chianti perhaps... I don't know how a winner would be chosen though... maybe they all win, and get painted gold before heading for the showers... Now what did that all have to do with scrapbooks ??? Oh yeah, if it's on the wall, is it art ? Mais oui, but of course it's art, it must be, right. Or at any rate, it became art after I took a picture of it, as photographing something automatically turns it in to art, right ??? Oh, heck, whatever, in any case, I love it when you spam me like that. Remember that Greg Brown song, where he says, "wham I'm spam" ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh6325lsQKM
Want another glass of chianti to go with that ?
Hi Lydia, ah, indeed, with your love of old cards, I imagine you were near heaven here... I don't know why I didn't have the presence of mind to save all these from destruction, after taking the photos... sometimes we think of things way too late... story of my life. Will be sure to keep everyone up to date about the books. The first one should be ready soon.
Chère Pastelle, ce qui me tue c'est que nous ne savons même pas tout ce qui as disparu depuis le début du temps... oh combien d'endroits ont été rasés par les guerres, les incendies, le "progrès", etc... perdu à jamais, et sans photo... Bonne année et meilleurs voeux à toi, que 2012 soit riche pour toi en photos et plaisir, joie de vivre...
Hi Lone Grey, If I'd been a bit more squirrel minded, I would have saved some of them... glad you enjoyed perusing, and yeah, pity it's gone. I should have come back with a circular saw and cut out the entire wall section they were on, and taken the whole shebang home... this sort of thing is truly "found art"...
I like this board with photographs and postcards – the imagination runs when looking at each – a great find.
Hope you had a nice Réveillon and that 2012 brings you everything you wish for.
How beautiful. I immediately thought Cubism when I first opened the page. Then my mind went galloping towards Man Ray. I wonder if it were one person or if different people just kept adding onto an original impulse. Guess we'll never know but your instinct to preserve it was right on. Awesome news about the book! I would be very interested as to what kind of reproduction process you are using. Keep us posted!
i am looking at a similar array of fotos myself on my office wall...there is something so reassuring about surrounding yourself with images of people and places you love..
all the best to you, owen, for a peaceful and happy new year~
xoxo
amanda
Is there a theme to the pinnings.. looks like a story is lurking there. oh yes you just told one.
Didn't know Greg Brown. Will delve further into the spam can and see what else I can scrape up from him.
The theme of the new reality tv show you've outlined makes about as much sense as most of them, as long as the women are wearing bikinis and have serious cleavage and the men are wearing snug-fitting underwear, with a few meatballs tucked in to add to the sauce.
Fantastique, Owen! merci pour ces photos nostalgiques... vie inconnu...mais vraiment avec nous...
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