Nostalgia
By Lori Andrews
2 October 2007
Nostalgia
One person's fond memory is another's disdain.
Depending on your date of birth, you will have exacting memories of a particular time in history. Those formative years of your childhood and the visual cues that surrounded you will be carried with you for the rest of your days. Some of us will want to have nothing to do with those reminders. Many of us will find ourselves strangely attracted to them. And some people will hold onto the physical manifestations of those memories in some perverse attempt to hold onto the past.
I photograph other people's houses. Usually I have permission, though I have been known to snap from the hip so to speak. Almost without fail, the houses I choose to photograph contain furnishings or the ambience of a mental snapshot from my own childhood. Vinyl dinette chairs, busy wallpaper and overtly grandmotherly dollies attract me like memory pheromones.
I generally shoot the rooms exactly as I found them. After all, these are not mine to style. Whenever possible, I will use a tripod since I always prefer to shoot with available light. Even with a tripod I often have severe time constraints as the homeowners will be standing next to me demanding to know why I have chosen this piece of furniture or area to shoot. After all, these things that appeal to my retro sensibilities are often a source of embarrassment to the owner. "That is just here until I can afford something new" they will say. It's no point to try to dissuade them otherwise.
Let's just say Nostalgia is very personal. Though when I say, "That's fabulous", I know that some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.
More Photo Essays
More stories by Lori Andrews
Nighttime theme
Personal Post. 9 Aug 2008.
this photo is a little buried in my stream but it has always been a personal favorite.
