Saturday, March 7, 2009

Signs of Life

I'm not sure what first attracted me to the idea of photographing old signage; I've been doing it for years now. The more I think about what draws me to it, the more I realize it's the idea of the people behind the signs, those who created them, those who used them to promote whatever they wanted to promote, those who used them for direction. In a time when most all of the signs we see are no more than logos inflated, I look at old neon and hand-painted signs as evidence of a lost America, one in which people had more opportunity to exercise creativity and more options in the world of commerce. Drive through most any town now, and you still see some homegrown signs. But our landscape is dominated by Wal Mart and Rite Aid, Outback Steakhouse and Home Depot. It's a bland, redundant way to live, a great leveling that does nothing for the idea of community. So here's a Beehive shout out to some of the oldies, and an invitation to check out some of them here.

3 comments:

  1. Fantastic post. I love old signs, too. You could make a great coffee table book out of these pictures ...

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  2. I have a little photo show coming up in June at Capitol Grounds in Montpelier. I know I'm not a real photographer, but I just love doing it.

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  3. love this stuff, underpainting, how i long for that lost world.

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