Polaroid Transfer

This scan doesn't do this image justice at all! I bought it from Yefim Tovbis, out side the Met in New York. There were so many gorgeous images it was impossible to choose just one, but there was something about this one that made me choose it. I think it's the composition and the odd position and place the man is lying in. In real life the image is much bluer as well. Check out the rest of his work here.

Kensal Green Cemetary

I have some sort of fascination with grave yards, especially ones as old and strange as this. The wall between the grave yard and the pavement had fallen down and destroyed a few rows of graves which is sad, but when they're that old dies anyone really care? It's strange to think that a stone monument can outlive you in the sense that it'll be there long after everyone who ever knew you has died, making the stone a bit redundant to be honest. There was one very striking monument, inscribed 'to her', I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. There is also a portrait of a young lady on the front. Very romantic and very sad. 

New Books

Went on a little trip to London last week to visit people and I ended up in a bookshop which, joy of joys, had ALL the Penguin Great Ideas series, including the new one which I hadn't seen before. I am acutely skint at the moment so I only got these two. But they are rather lovely!

More pretty packaging

Another find in Spain that arrived in the post the other day from Barney. I do like mail.

Polaroid

I spent a few hours yesterday procrastinating instead of doing work and I spent most of the time looking about on ebay for polaroid film. I found this website: the-impossible-project.com which is a group of people looking to produce the film again, although not quite as we know it. There is hope yet for instant film! Hurrah!

little stamp

This little thing is another stamp from my new collection. I think it's from 1920s Germany at the time of hyperinflation (considering it's worth 10million marks...) I've got  a whole load more like this which I haven't got round to scanning yet.

Rain, rain, go away

I am mourning the end of summer. Autumn has officially begun in ernest. Last week I was wearing skirts and flip flops. Today I'm in a scarf, boots, wooly socks and all soggy from the rain.

This map shows average temperature and rainfall, I shall search it later for somewhere warmer to migrate to.

Adventures in France

I am very jealous of Toby (the boyfriend). After I flew back home from Barcelona, he drove back through France and stayed with his uncle for a bit. They ended up exploring the house next door which had been empty since the War and was being knocked down. In it they found all sorts of treasures and I turned green when he told me about them (bikes, photo albums, furniture etc etc). Luckily he bought me back a small stash of lovely things, including this little envelope with negatives in it. They're a mix of family photos from around the 1900s - 1930s or so. When the dark room at Uni opens I'll be straight in there to develop them.

Baseball

These are a couple of things I picked up in New York, intended as presents, that have somehow made it into my own private stash of 'stuff'. I couldn't work out if they were actually that old (ironically enough, I was born in 1988) or if they were a joke. SO I opened one (1989, just to be safe) and ate the stick of gum inside. It's definitely as old as I am. 

Stamps

I love charity shops. I was mourning the loss of one of the best ones in Brighton when I found that it had actually just moved round the corner. I'm not saying which one it is but it's amazing because it looks rubbish so no one 'cool' goes in so the prices are still low (unlike cool places like oxfam) and they always have lots of wool, National Geographics, School Atlases and stamps for next to nothing! I bought 5 pages of stamps the other day, mostly from America and Germany. I am so excited about the Germans ones, which I'll post as soon as I get round to scanning them. Someone said it was a shame they had the rummer stamp on them but I think it looks better like that because it means they've actually been used. 

Home again.

I had forgotten how long it took to move house! I FINALLY unpacked the last of my boxes yesterday, including my box of maps and my eccentric scanner. I've been languishing in bed the last few days with the flu and today I've left the house! Which means I'm in the library using the internet :( The sunny weather has also gone with my flu, and now it's raining when I want to enjoy being well. Anyway I'm still in the process of getting my act together for uni, which means sorting out all the stuff I've collected from my travels. These are just a couple of maps from a school atlas showing where I've been all summer. 

Valet ticket.

Yes, I'm disgusting, I picked this up out of a gutter.

holiday snaps

I can't work out if this photo is actually two photos composited together. I also wish I knew where it was. Someone suggested Pompeii? hrmm...

chocolate

I have to admit I bought these entirely for the pretty packaging, which I then ruined my tearing it because I was too impatient to wait til I got home to eat it. The chocolate actually turned out to be practically inedible. Which I thought was something that chocolate could never be. It ended up in the bin. Upon reflection I think this could have been chocolate meant for melting and drinking... and then I heard that this is exactly what it is and that it's very nice actually in liquid form. Woe is me!

back home

with 2 months worth of miscellany to catch up with!

Song Dong

This is an installation piece by Chinese artist Song Dong in the MOMA that kind of puts my compulsive collecting in perspective! The artist's mother grew up in hard times in Communist China and hoarded everything incase one day it would be useful, even when times were better. When the artist's father died, he convinced his mother to let go of all these things, and their final use would be as a piece of art. Shortly after this his mother also died. It was a huge room filled with all her these things that she held onto her whole life all neatly stacked up in rows, in and around the timber frame of her old house. It was pretty amazing to see, especially after knowing that she had died, as it was literally her whole life laid out in one room. There was everything from old broken tvs, children's toys, plastic bottles and food packaging and even tiny old bits of string and empty tubes of toothpaste. If anyone gets the chance to go then do, it's pretty remarkable.

Fling

OK so this blog was meant to be about things that I have collected, but since being in NY I have just been posting photos of cool things that I've seen but could never own. This is one of them. This is a Kodak fling and it's one of the first disposable cameras. I saw it in the MOMA and I was desperate to have one! An epic trawl of the internet will shortly commence!

When I get back to the UK I will scan all the things that I have acquired while out here. Ticket stubs, random bits of paper etc etc...

Beautiful shop sign

On Manhattan Ave in Brooklyn.

Boats

More signs

Sea Port

Beautiful shop fronts

More amusing signs

I'm afraid that until I get back to the UK and have the use of a scanner again, this whole blog will be signage.

more painted signs

I have enough photos of painted signs to take this blog through to next month!

Coney Island!

Ok so I haven't even attempted to blog for weeks but I can't really be blamed because I'm in New York and there's much better things to be doing! But I will attempt to make it up some how. So I went to Coney Island on Saturday, I have to say it was tackier, more garish and more derelict than I could ever have imagined. I enjoyed it so much though. It was worth the 1 hour train ride just for the painted signs. I will post more, I have literally hundreds of photos!