I think it’s time for another found photograph, don’t you? This one, like all photographs I pick up at flea markets, had something about it that made me want to take it home. Perhaps it’s the two people out of frame, their shadows betraying their presence? Or the great detailing on that window? Or maybe it’s the curious fact that one guy is wearing an enormous winter coat buttoned up to the neck, while the others don’t even have on a light jacket.
Whatever it is exactly, I’m conjuring up a character that carries this photograph around in his or her pocket. Along with two other things.
Found photograph, date and origin unknown.
1961 Roosevelt silver dime, via Urban Archaeology.
Playing card, six of diamonds.
We all need inspiration every once in a while. Something to plant that seed. Grease those wheels. Spark that fire. Crank that… well, I don’t really know where to go with that one, but I do like the word “crank.”
Three Things series: each week I’ll be posting three things, and maybe, just maybe, one of these weeks, one of these things will do all of that metaphorical stuff for you. Yes, cranking things, too.
Three Things, First Edition
I’m the sort of person who rifles through boxes of old postcards and forgotten photographs in flea markets. The ones I take home are the ones that, for whatever reason, I want to narrate. Take this photo, for example. I have no idea who or where they are. It’s not really even a very exciting photograph, but there’s some small thing, maybe the mid-sentence expression on her face, or the way his hand wraps around her waist, that makes me want to write their back story.
So here you go. Here’s a photograph, and two more things to go with it: Lucky Strike matches (can’t you just see them in his pocket?) and an ocean liner poster. I’ve already got my first sentence.
Lucky Strike matchbox.
Giovanni Patrone. Amérique du Nord Express, 1934. Lithograph. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
