Water Plant
We had a lovely walk in the woods this morning. The trees are just starting to show new growth, and I was pleased to see that some of these water plants (identification anyone?) are starting to appear in the small streams. This one is right near a spot where Olive likes to lie in the water and rub her back on the moss covered rocks.
This is from a few days ago. It might be time for a bath.
Willard Suitcases / L W M
L. W.’s case was largely empty save for this purple piece of rope and a half-smoked cigar. It stikes me as a pretty good metaphor for a life interrupted. You can check out the other photographs on the suitcases site. Thanks for following, and I wish you all a lovely weekend.
The Clark
Cris and I drove to Williamstown yesterday to meet up with Peggy Ross and her husband Peter. The Clark is always the draw, and every time I go something new grabs me. These Renoirs are quite nice.
I have always liked this Sargent on the right (“A Street in Venice”).
Cris really likes these figures. I can’t remember the artist.
I spent a lot of time sitting in front of the Turner that I mentioned in a previous post.
Willard Suitcases / Charles F
I mentioned earlier this week that I was hoping to get Charles F’s photographs uploaded by the end of the week, and here is a sample. To see the rest of the collection, please go to the Willard Suitcases site.
From the little I know about Charles, he came to Willard somewhat later in his life. I have no way of knowing if the portrait in the above photograph is he, or someone near to him, but whenever I think about his life, this image comes to mind.
The tassels on his tallit are especially evocative to me.
I believe that this is the publisher of some of his books. I did a search for it but came up empty. Any help would be welcome.
His starched collars were still in quite good condition.
I have no way of knowing if he was in the military, but I would guess that this canteen was army surplus.
Here is a close up of his naturalization papers, which date to October of 1896.
Many of the suitcases in the collection contain scraps of paper with hand-written notes on them. I find that these can be especially interesting.
One of Charles’ cases had this selection tools (and a razor).
Please check out the rest of my photographs of Charles’ possessions on the suitcases site, and thanks for following.
Crocus
We are supposed to have snow this weekend along with very cold temperatures. I didn’t want to lose these guys to the weather before I got the chance to take some pictures. Nature!
Green / Big Stick
Now that the snow is all gone Olive and I have started spending more time in the woods. It rained most of the day yesterday, so it was pretty wet. Nice.
She is a total stick (or should I say log) girl. This could have been record size for her. She carried it for about half a mile.
I have been seeing a lot of green lately, and these fungi are just beautiful. Can anyone out there tell me what they are?
Willard Suitcases / George C / Charles F
I am attempting to make a push to upload as many new cases as I can over the next few months.
George C’s case is really blue! It was empty save for a label. You can see the other photos at the willardsuitcases.com site. I am uploading the cases chronologically, and this is the beginning of a run of empty cases. I ran the second kickstarted appeal specifically to document the entire collection, and even the empty ones are important to me. (By the way, thanks to Peggy Ross for convincing me how important it was to photograph every case. I wouldn’t and couldn’t have done it without her help and support.)
One case stands out in this sequence though, especially as it was anything but empty. Charles F’s possessions were amazing. It will take me days to go through it all, but I hope to have it up by the end of next week. Above is his certificate of naturalization. On the left you can see the list of clothing that came with him to Willard. More soon.
Thanks for following.
Washington Capitals / Metro Closed
Peter and I went to a Caps game tonight. It was great, and they beat Carolina 2-1 in overtime on a (slightly) contested Ovechkin goal.
On our way to the arena, a guy sitting near to us on the Metro told us that the entire system would be closed for 24 hours starting at midnight. We figured he wasn’t kidding when we saw this ⇧. Should make the morning commute really interesting.
Design Observer / Jessica Helfand
Very shortly after the first Willard Suitcases kickstarter went up I received an email from Jessica Helfand expressing her interest in the project. She soon invited me down to New Haven to speak to her Yale freshman seminar class, “Studies in Visual Biography”. Here is a post I did just after that first visit. I have subsequently been to her class on several other occasions and it is always very stimulating and fun.
As well as teaching at Yale, Jessica and her late husband Bill Drenttel created Design Observer, which is a fantastic website devoted to creativity and design. That description doesn’t do it justice though, as it is so much more than that. It is really worth checking out on a regular basis. In addition to the site, Design Observer recently started publishing a quarterly magazine. The second issue is just out, and they included a huge spread on the suitcases. I am just so honored to be a part of the issue, and it looks great. Here is a link to purchase it, and I would really recommend all of you interested in the project to do so. It includes many suitcase photographs that haven’t been published before. Special thanks go to Eugenia Bell, who did a great job selecting the images, and making sure it all came together. She was a joy to work with.
As we were saying goodbye after that first class at Yale, Jessica reached out, hugged me and said “We’re friends now!” It was a most touching gesture and I have rarely felt so quickly welcomed into someone’s life. She has been a massive supporter of the project who has helped me in so many ways, and I am very fortunate to be her friend.
Coal Harbour Vancouver
I walked down to the harbour yesterday afternoon. There was a break in the rain so it was a nice time to watch the Harbour Air planes take off and land. I found myself thinking that if one were a pilot, this would be the best job in the world. And I love the floating Chevron station.
Although this plane was Westcoast Air. Back home tomorrow. This visit was much too short.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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