When the East Coast Rules (and other thoughts) | Main | Backing Up

November 14, 2007

Never What it Seems

My street discoveries have been rather sparse as of late, probably because I've been doing too much rushing around and not enough scanning for little things. It seems, though, that Baltic Street always offers me something if I really look. Over the years, I have found various artifacts of other people's lives - old letters, pieces of manuscripts, slides and photographs. I'm not really sure why there is always something on Baltic Street, but there is.

A few weeks ago I came across the above piece of a photograph. The silhouette of a person in a hat immediately caught my eye and after closer inspection, I was rather entranced by the pattern of the curtains and how light filtered through them. I immediately began drawing up questions and stories in my head- Who was the man (or woman) in the hat? Who was ripped out of the photo? Was it taken in the city of the country? All of my potential responses centered around some sort of 1940's or 50's theme, as though something in the image immediately placed it in a specific period of time.

Then I flipped the photograph over and my whole slew of imaginary hypotheses were blown away. Printed on the back was www.pephoto.com. The picture wasn't old at all. At first I was disappointed and considered throwing it back into the trash pile where I'd found it. Instead, I paused and thought about what the image had evoked in me and realized that it was valuable, even if it wasn't the normal type of life artifact that I collect from the street.

Regardless of age, I find the image quite haunting. And now I really want to know the story.

Posted by callalillie at November 14, 2007 2:10 AM | City Life , Found History , Little Things