I spent the afternoon at the Chelsea flea markets last Sunday and I almost got whiplash trying to capture all the bizarre images of the day. This particular image spoke to me on so many levels. There she was… the quintessential 1950s paper doll, posing Carol Merill style next to a treasure trove of old photos. I love her foundation garment (hey, my first job out of art school was with Maidenform – that is what you call any type of underwear).
What struck me about this shot and the angle in which I captured it, were the categories of images the vendor had chosen to feature. Some are not that easy to read, or are covered up, so I will list them here:
- Interiors
- Post-Mortem: Death, Funeral, Memorial
- Costumes
- Holidays, Weddings
- Parades
- Disasters/Accidents
- Fishing
Some commentary (what, you thought this would go without my thoughts?)
Ok, I can see why you would collect period interiors. I am sure there is a market for that. And costumes, ok, that makes sense. Holidays, I get that and I suppose throwing weddings in with them goes with the celebration theme. Parades, yeh, that could have an appeal on some level. And fishing? Well I suppose if the images were of some big fish there would be those lovers of the sport who might find these interesting.
But Post-Mortem?! I shudder to think who would want to purchase these. Why on earth did I not think to browse through these photos to see what the hell was in there that illustrated death, funeral and memorial? And Disasters/Accidents (love the slash), this was probably the pay dirt of the bizarre.
Now I HAVE to go back and check these out. And I am pretty sure I will have to buy some of them. Stay tuned, this could surely have a great follow-up post in the coming weeks.
Ok, so other people actually SHOP when they go to these things. Me? Not so interested in owning other people’s junk, I just like to photograph it.
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i could cry but i don't have time 