Last Sunday (the 17th) I went out in the morning and spent money on two things that, in my current financial state, I shouldn't be spending money on. Those things were a) brunch at Canter's and b) some old snapshots at the flea market over on Melrose and Fairfax.
I bought some other photographs along time ago (see the on other post from this month so far) from the same guy. He's an older guy, and always been their ever since I can remember. His relatively haphazard enterprise consists of a few tables of wide, shallow cardboard boxes filled with photographs. All kinds of photographs. Snapshots, slides, negatives, old ones and recent ones. For the most part, they are two for a dollar. Depending on how many you buy, you can go back and pick out a few more (I bought $9.00 worth, which entitled me to four additional freebees).
Everyone who was looking through the (college-age hipsters, a thin diminionative matron, a pair of well-to-do-looking Mexican guys) all had the same question about the merchandise: 'Why would anyone buy this stuff?' It's a reasonable question, especially since most of the pictures are recent, and bad. There's a reason they weren't wanted. If you aren't looking for something specific, and then even if you are, it can tend to blend together after a few minutes. I was trying to keep an open mind and, even though I'm happy with what I found, the process was like digging through several glossy color haystacks to find some decent black-and-white, aesthetically interesting needles.
I have no idea where this guy gets these pictures. I need to ask him next time, but I don't know if he'll tell. Something tells me that word would have gotten out and it would be part of Fairfax lore if he was open about it. You have to wonder where they come from though since most of them are clearly very recent. Like, literally from the 90's and 2000's. And they are terrible. They are unflattering. 80's hair and 90's makeup abound. Subjects are caught at embarassing angles or with their eyes forced closed by an unexpected flash. There are lots of pictures of peoples kids, which is creepy. The fact that these pictures are of people who are still alive is creepy. And I do wonder who buys them. I sudder to think what purposes they fill.
The question 'Why woudl anyone buy this stuff?' implies one of two questions, the real question that's on the asker's mind. The first of these would be the 'What do you do with them?' That's what diminutive matron asked me. I had to admit I didn't do much. I just like having them. Being the archivist I am, I could never think of incorporating them into a collage or cutting them up. And, with plenty of my own family photos back home in Palo Alto, I'm not in need of a new family history. I guess the other thing I could have said was 'I post them on my blog.' That would be true, but I don't want her to think I'm too pretentious. I care what total strangers think of me.
The one other question that people are really asking is 'What do you see in them?' What do you see in these old, faded, rejected pieces of ephemera, usually completely cut off from any context (I have found that it's rare to even find a year or a name written on the back). Apart from interesting clothes and hair, I find their appeal hard to pinpoint. I guess if anything I feel like I'm rescuing memories. Wanky, I know, but again it's the archivist in me. These pictures have been thrown out once. The disposal stops with me. I am happy to have them.
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