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Snog-a-rama!!

Carl Milner's avatarMilnersBlog

PHOTO-BOOTH LOVE

Carl & Paula WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge Kiss
The ‘KISS’ theme for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge was one not to miss, but this old photo-booth shot from me and ❤Wifey’s ‘courting’ days is more of a full-on Snog than a Kiss…what can I say we were a passionate couple back then.

…still are 🙂

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Damian Michaels is an American artist, writer, curator and publisher who has lived in Melbourne since 1994. His work is part of the outsider art movement. Outsider art is a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds. Damian sees his art as spiritual, psychological and an emotional mirror to the collective consciousness. His art is revelatory and message-laden but that message is for the viewer to interpret. It is not prescribed by the artist. This altered photobooth self-portrait is part of a series of works Damian has done using photographs old and new, as his canvas. Apart from loving this as the only piece of photobooth art I have in my collection, I enjoy its movement and humour. For me, it is an appropriate self-portrait of a man with a creative spirit and an apparently great sense of fun. To see more of his work and read more about him, follow the links below.

  • At Raw Vision, Colin Rhodes writes about Damian's underlying creative processes.
  • Damian's Flickr Photostream where you can see more of his altered photos and other works.
  • His facebook page
  • and Damian's website where you can buy copies of his publication Art Visionary magazine

photobooth18:12:1998#02

18 December 1998, Luna Park, Melbourne

Moana and I – still celebrating with icecream! Yay!

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

photoboothValentine04 photoboothValentine03 photoboothValentine01

Happy St Valentine’s day!

These sweet photographic love-notes are undated but I’d say they were taken sometime in the 1940s, possibly during WW2. They have the look and sentiment of war-time keepsakes, probably sent from the USA to this lady’s lover overseas.

They are so cute and unusual, I cannot understand why any descendants of this woman didn’t want to treasure them forever.

photobooth18:12:1998#01

18 December 1998, Luna Park, Melbourne

My travelling companion, Moana, was visiting from the UK. My sister Sue, was temporarily living back in Australia, after a few years in Ireland. What better way to celebrate a reunion than with icecreams and a photobooth session?

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

photoboothBeckyEtc14a

Undated

photoboothBeckyEtc13a

“Becky 22 yrs. Dec. ’77”

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Undated with unidentified friend.

These are the final strips in my series about Becky and her friends. Our little girl has grown up but still loves to pull faces for the camera. And hasn’t she nabbed herself a gorgeous boyfriend?

I wonder where Becky is now? What is the story behind the photos? How did this brilliant series of souvenirs of a seemingly happy child’s formative years, come to be in the public domain?

I wish I knew Becky’s surname so that I could find her, but maybe her friend Pam Meadow will Google herself one day, discover these pictures and be able to tell us more of the life behind this archive.

photobooth17:11:1998

17 November 1998, Spencer Street Station, Melbourne

These photos were taken on the way to Melbourne airport. I flew to New Zealand for a cycling tour of the northern tip of the North Island. Whilst there, I also visited multiple relatives.

I was already beginning to feel some of the effects of the neurological condition Myalgic Encephalomyelitis from which I suffer. Tiring easily, headaches and muscle pain, are some of the symptoms. The problems were mild at this time, so I was still able to carry on a normal life.

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

photoboothJacqMelWesley

Here is another of the rarer polaroid photobooth photos. Although the quality of the image isn’t great, I like the effect of the faces emerging through the darkened space.

I am betting that this photo belonged to Wesley and that he wrote the names on the front of the photo, misspelling Jaqueline’s. Yeah, typical boy. Yeah, sexist comment. Oh me, oh my.

photobooth20:07:1998

6 November 1998, Luna Park, St Kilda, Melbourne

This is Hawkeye, my first trainee guide dog puppy. He was offered to me when I was a volunteer puppy-raiser, after he had made an “escape bid” from the Guide Dog Association’s kennels where he was born. It was such a drama that the fire brigade had to be called, resulting in a news article in The Sunday Age newspaper, below.

He was a precious little pup who worked very hard towards his goal of becoming a working guide dog but unfortunately that was not to be. More of his story to come.

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

photobooth01:1999HawkeyeNewsClipping

The newspaper article from August 1998.

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The original photo from the news article.

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An unpublished photo of the escape drama.

photoboothBeckyEtc10a

Undated. With unidentified friend or sibling. Could this be Robin?

photoboothBeckyEtc11a

Same unidentified child.

photoboothBeckyEtc12a

Same unidentified friend and a new one.

In part one I mentioned Robin, who could be a sibling or friend of Becky’s. The shots where he was named were missing from the archive of photos. This group of shots, all of the same, unnamed boy, suggest a younger brother or cousin, possibly named Robin.

In the strip with Becky, our happy, gap-toothed lad seems to be recovering from a fall or fight, having a large scab on his top lip. Fully healed in the second strip, his tousled hair and face-making skills are featured.

Finally, in the third strip he is joined by a little girl, who could also be a cousin to Becky, but I don’t think she is likely to be her sister. They are trying their best to pull faces, but seem unable to match their efforts to the timing of the flashes.

All undated photos, the top ones of Becky are probably from 1972 when she was about 17 years old, making the other strips more or less of the same date.