Reflections On Rejection

Dear Photograph bypassed me

In 2011 Canadian artist Taylor James launched a website titled Dear Photograph. The site asked people to submit photos showing an old photo framed in the same location as the original but at the present time.

It created an atmosphere of time travel. People and locations from long ago shown in the context of today. Clever idea.

The site became an internet phenomenon almost overnight. Within a year Taylor had collected enough photos to publish a book.

In the introduction of the book, Taylor describes the Aha! moment — how the idea came to him.

While sitting at the table in his mom’s kitchen looking at old photo albums he saw a photo of his then three-year-old brother sitting at the exact same table next to his Winnie the Pooh birthday cake. My brother was there, in the exact spot he was sitting in that old photograph, he recalls.

He took the photo from the album and held it in front of him matching the photo of his brother with the present scene. And that became the idea behind Dear Photograph.

I was immediately inspired to create an image to submit to the website. I recall the process required to submit images was cumbersome at the time. The technology available in those days did not make things easy.

I did manage to submit the image that illustrates this story. Somehow, for whatever reason, it was never posted on the website.

I was very disappointed. I had written a lovely story to give context to the image. I had used a change of seasons as the defining theme of the photo, something that up to that point nobody else had done. I thought it showed some originality.

The photo shows my wife and our two daughters shoveling a rather rare Westcoast snow dump. The tiny detail that dates the photo for me is my neighbour’s car — which had been updated over the years.

So since Dear Photograph did not like my family snow photo I decided that — just for fun — I would try to create a new image. I sifted through some old photo albums and dug this up:

A picture of me in our kitchen holding my favorite vegetable. That room has changed in twenty-five years: windows, countertops, stove, tiles, and even the old guy with the smile ain’t the same.

I would encourage you to look through your old photos and create your own Dear Photograph. It is a rather satisfying way to punctuate the passage of time. Have no fear, Full Frame would be happy to publish your photos.