South Carolina Beach
Cris and I celebrated our 25th anniversary yesterday with a very long walk on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the light was perfect for me. And as you can see, it was mostly deserted.
When we walk, I am constantly stopping to take photos. She usually just keeps moving but I eventually catch up.
Some of these guys are really tiny. The shell on top with the red bit was no more than an inch across. The guy above was probably 3 inches.
I have only occasionally seen the above type of shell. Reminds me of an exotic African cat.
This shell was very small, but so beautiful.
There is usually quite a bit of plant matter laying about. We saw what was left of a huge palm tree at the high tide line. I am not sure if the plant above is a water or land based plant.
Sand dollars are somewhat rarer this year. We didn’t see any until yesterday.
I say it to people all the time when I am complimented about my photographs, because it is important for me to give credit where it is due. I absolutely could not do what I do without the constant support and encouragement from Cristine. Not just emotionally, but in practical terms as well. She works very hard at a demanding job to provide us with all the things that a photographer with a spotty income could never provide. For that and the last 25 years I am more grateful than I can say.
Binghamton Asylum Glass Plate Negatives
In the late 1980’s Brad Edmondson and I went down to the Binghamton asylum buildings that I was photographing for my original New York State asylum project. While were in the “Castle” building we came across a room that was filled with boxes of glass plate negatives of patients from the early days of the asylum. It was an amazing trove of images and we immediately hoped to be able to do something with them. We had no luck getting access, but I have thought about them over the years. Craig Williams from the New York State Museum arrived at the facility on the morning of 11 September, 2001 to have a look, but events of that day put the kibosh on his access. About a month ago I heard that the Broome County Historical Society had finally made arrangements to check out the plates. On Friday I went to Binghamton to have a look at their efforts to organize, clean, and catalogue every plate. It is such a relief to know that they are finally in safe hands and will be preserved.
The negative’s eventual home is still up in the air, but the Greater Binghamton Heath Center which runs the facility is eager to get them into safe hands. Here you see one of the volunteers cleaning the non emulsion side of a plate. They are all a bit dusty, but otherwise in amazing condition.
Here’s another box of unexposed plates. Love the graphic design.
I am always on the lookout for bits of ephemera from the buildings. Another object from the collection is this very cool typewriter.
I’ve never seen one like this and haven’t had the time to research the brand. Anyone out there ever heard of the Printype Oliver Typewriter?
It is a beautiful machine and I like the little character in the photo below.
Old keyboards are also interesting.
Thanks to the Broome County Historical Society and the Greater Binghamton Health Center for allowing me to see the plates. And to Roger Luther who like me has a great interest in New York State asylums.
Recorder
I’m in Princeton, NJ and just finished shooting for the evening. Last night I had a quick job at Smith College and saw this on a bulletin board. It really made me laugh out loud.
Willard Suitcase #12
This is Eleanor G’s large trunk. It is one of the few cases in the collection that is unwrapped. I have posted some of her other cases before. I have edited the photos in this post quite tightly; there are well over 20 that I will eventually use, but due to time and space limitations, I’ll show just a few.
This is a classic footlocker design with a removable top shelf.
I think she used this calendar notebook as a Christmas or birthday book. You can read what seems like a list presents she either gave or wanted to give to people.
Eleanor sewed a lot. Here is a section of a pattern.
Above is some of the wrapping of the items in the bottom of the case.
These two movie ticket stubs were the only things in this little red clutch purse.
I like the design of this little vanity. The use of the stars is especially tasteful.
The little lavender fabric button below the pills is such a lovely color. These items were inside the vanity.
This is a closeup of a huge roll of wrapping paper that really got to me. I so wanted to take the outer seal off to look at a whole sheet, but it was taped on and I was worried about ruining it.
The bottom of the trunk was full of letters to Eleanor. She clearly had saved these from her life outside of Willard. At first I thought the address on the bottom right envelope said “White House”, but as I enlarged the writing, it looked more like “White Home”. I’m not sure if it was a residential facility or just an apartment house. (Early on in this project, an interesting fellow from somewhere out west was researching some of the materials and came up with some really cool historical links. Tom, if you are still following, I’d love to hear from you.)
I plan to be back at the museum on Thursday to shoot more cases. An tomorrow I will be at the recently closed Hudson River Psychiatric Center shooting some interiors. Thanks for following this project.
1 January, 2012
This is the first New Year’s Day in years that there hasn’t been snow on the ground. Cris and I went up into the woods with the Pearl and it was clear and sunny with the temperature in the mid 40’s. Sometimes it seems that winter should already be over, especially since we had so much snow in late October.
There was still ice in the shaded areas.
We had never noticed this dead tree before, and when we first saw it we were reminded of the Knights of Ni from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
He even had some hair-like plants sprouting out of his head.
/Cris had dropped one of my handkerchiefs on a walk just after Thanksgiving, and some kind soul found it and put it high enough into a tree so that it would be visible to whomever had lost it.
I have always hated losing things and when we saw it in the tree today it made us very happy. It’s nice to start the new year being on the receiving end of someone’s thoughtfulness.
All the best to you all for 2012. Jon
Willard Suitcase #10
This is another of Eleanor G.’s cases.
The way in which the museum wraped these suitcases really resonates with me on this one, and you will see just why as you scroll down to the last picture.
I like the style of this one; nothing special but extremely functional.
The remnants of the tags are always interesting to me.
Eleanor made some of her own clothes, as you might have inferred from the contents of the previous post.
The clothing in this case really got to me.
The fabric had a feel to it that was so much of another time.
And the embroidery work on the collar of this sun dress was so delicate.
I couldn’t figure out why she or someone else wrote her initials on this dress, especially in such a prominent place.
Here is more of her embroidery work.
I love the color of the hat, and would guess that she added the adornment to it herself.
It might be a bit difficult to make out, but the bow on this dress so resembles the way the string is tied on the outside of the wrapped cases that I immediately made a connection between the two.
Milk Cap
One day when I was in college, I was standing in front of the mailboxes in Ferncliff Hall and dropped a penny. It landed on its edge between my feet and stayed that way. I thought it was really cool and decided to leave it there. I walked by several hours later and it was still in the same place in spite of all the people who had walked by. I thought of it as a good omen; something unusual that I was a part of, and I remember that day as being especially nice. A similar thing happened with an aspirin a few years later and I began to pay attention to the correlation between dropping something that stayed on its edge and having a happy and productive day. Over all these years it has maybe happened 20 or so times with various objects, and I always feel elated. Yesterday morning as I was making tea for Cris and me, I took the cap off the milk and dropped it. It turned out to be a very nice day.
ElementalManhattan / Pieper
This is my friend Richard Pieper. I took this photograph in the elevator of his building in the East Village back in January. (I think he is wearing earmuffs!) Pieper is a great friend and a very interesting fellow. Click here to see his latest project. It is truly amazing.
Willard Asylum Suitcase #2
I was back in Rotterdam last week to photograph more suitcases from Willard Asylum. Check this out for the background of the project.
I am slowly beginning to formulate a plan for how to proceed.
Even though an inventory of each case has been prepared by the museum, I prefer not to know the contents before I begin taking pictures.
There is something about being surprised by what’s inside that helps me connect with the person.
And I want the connection because I am trying to say something about the lives they lived before arriving at the asylum.
Anna’s first case contained mostly clothes.
I believe the inventory was done just as she arrived at Willard.
The museum is very careful about caring for each individual item.
Anna had some really beautiful clothes.
Just about all of her clothes had nametags, which I have to assume were sewn in before her time at Willard.
Below is the second of her cases.
This one had fewer clothes and more personal items.
For some reason, I really like the paper that the museum uses to protect the cases and their contents.
I especially like the design of this one.
When I photographed the abandoned buildings on the earlier project, I tried never to move items that I came across. This is so different for me as I need to lay the items out in order to photograph, but I don’t want to make the arrangements look too studied. I actually work very fast when I am shooting.
This case contained several hats, and an incredible pair of shoes.
There were also some indications of her life before Willard.
The hair pin packaging is beautiful.
I am not sure if the residents of Willard had access to their possessions during the time they were living there, but somehow I think not. So this letter would probably have been received before she arrived.
And since it was not addressed to Anna, I wonder about its importance to her.
Thanks so much to Craig Williams at the New York State Museum for allowing me access. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I would really appreciate any feedback. I still don’t have an outlet for this work, and no funds to jump into it in any concerted manner, but I hope to keep chipping away. There is alot of information about the people attached to these suitcases and should I go much further with the project, I would like to be able to include some biographical background to accompany the photos.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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