Jon Crispin's Notebook

It has been quite a while since I have posted a suitcases update.  There is a lot going on, and I finally have a bit of a breather.  I have been shooting at least one day a week in Rotterdam, and some weeks I have managed two full days.

 On Tuesday, Peter Carroll came out from Ithaca and we shot video for the upcoming Kickstarter 2 appeal.  It will be several weeks before it is even close to be up and running (pending Kickstarter approval), but I have been thinking a great deal about how to go about the whole thing.

 I have a natural aversion to asking for financial support for my independent projects, and it is a bit of a struggle for me to think about how to begin this process all over again.  After the shoot, I was talking to my son Peter, and he had some great words of encouragement, especially the idea that I would never be asking for a second round of support if the first one wasn’t so successful in getting folks interested in the suitcases.

 And what really keeps me going is that in doing this work, I have helped to create and incredible community of people who are invested in the completion of the project.

 Peg Ross and I have been so productive in the last two months.  We have a system set up that allows us to be super efficient.  In one two day period alone we managed to shoot almost 30 cases.  Most of these were partially to completely empty, but I have come to feel that it is just as important to document these suitcase as the ones that are full.

 These license plates are a good example.  Along with the paper tag, these were the only objects in Robert Y’s case.  Amazing.

 Stuert B’s case was filled with these bathroom products.  This is the second container of Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder we have come across.

 I love the Mennen logo on the top of the talcum container.  Beautiful.

 I have also been able to upload a few more suitcases to “The Cases” section of  willardsuitcases.com.  Check it out if you get the chance and please stay in touch.  It means so much to me to get feedback.