Summer nights in the back yard

On the left: Julie Blackmon, Night Movie, 2011. On the right: Gregory Crewdson, untitiled (Back Yard Romance) 2004. 

Four sisters take on time

Another intriguing project: Helsinki-based Wilma Hurskainen and her three sisters attempted to recreate about 30 photographs their father took of them when they were young. Several of the resulting photos are here.

Says Hurskainen: "It seems as if we were trying to go back to our childhood by adopting the same position towards each other and the photographer's/spectator's gaze but we unavoidably fail. We have to fail – there is no return in time. " You can see more of Helsinki's work here.

(Thanks to Jen Lowe for the tip!)

Now and then

On the left: Zeke, January, 2012, Santa Fe, NM. On the right: Megan, sometime in 1982, Santa Cruz, CA. (Thanks to Megan Goldberg for sharing this one!)

Miss O'Keeffe, I presume?

On the left Georgia O'Keeffe, "Cebolla Church," 1945; on the right: Reeve Taylor, "Georgia O'Keeffe's Cebolla Church" (painted as part of Annette Cohen's third grade art class), 1997.

You shoot my shot, I'll shoot yours

On the left: Laura's shot of Reeve shooting Laura (as he shows off his muddy jeans after slipping in the spring-thaw ooze); on the right: Reeve's shot of Laura shooting Reeve. Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM, 2007.

Walk on by

On the left: Tim, Nick, and Reeve walk past a storefront in Manitou Springs, CO, September 2007. On the right: Tim, Reeve, and Nick walk past a storefront in downtown Springfield, CO, July 2006.

Dear photograph. . .

Breaking the format a moment to share a really yummy site: Dear Photograph is a photo blog which made up of old photographs reshot in front of the site where they were originally taken — which makes for some poignant visual storytelling. Contributions are sent in from all over the world, usually with a line or two saying something about the image.

Text for the above photo:

Dear Photograph,
Over 25 years later, the house is still blue and my mother is still looking over me.
Alexandra

Signs

On the left: early morning outside the Pantry Restaurant in Santa Fe, September 2010; On the right: early morning outside a thrift shop in West Hollywood, October 2010.

Branches and blossoms

On the left: Vincent Van Gogh's "Almond Blossom" oil on canvas, 1890; on the right: detail* from Gustave Baumann's "Spring Blossoms," woodcut print, 1950

*OK, so this one might be cheating — using a detail, I mean — but Bauman's branches are the first thing I thought of when I saw this Van Gogh's painting, so I had to try. . .

Inside and out

On the left: View from the exterior. Reeve shoots the convenience-store doll (and Laura); On the right: View from the interior. Laura shoots the convenience-store doll (and Reeve and Tim)

A study in contrast

On the left: the trunk where Tim keeps his clothing. On the right: mine.

White on white (on white on white)

On the left, Kazimir Malevich‘s “Suprematist Composition: White on White”  (1918).
On the right, my “Priority Envelope in More Snow than We Expected Today. . .” (2010)

Cousins

On the left: Nick (approx 15 mos, at his house in Colorado Springs, CO, 1988); on the right: Reeve (approx 2 years old, in his room in Santa Fe, NM, 1992)

Of kith and . . . kind?

I was going through some old photos and happened upon one, taken about 40 years ago, in which my sister, Cathy, and I are dancing. I was immediately struck by how much, in the photo, Cathy at age 6 looks like her son Ian. But I was even more struck by how much, in the photo, I at age 7 look like . . . me. See for yourself.

I know, I know. A long, roundabout way of stating the obvious. We look like our families; we look like ourselves. Still, it’s kind of fun to see it laid out so plainly via the medium of photography.

Top photo: Ian and Laura,  December 2008. Bottom photo: Cathy and Laura, December 1968.

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