Courtesy of the collection of Robert E. Jackson

A new photobook pairs vintage watermarked “proof” photographs with prose to create stories of anonymous people.

What happens to the memories behind anonymous, discarded photos? What can we know about a person when all we have is a snapshot - discovered in an old shoebox, in a bin at some vintage store, or an archive some stranger is hocking on Ebay? What stories do we create in our minds to color the photos we find? In the case of Proof, published by emerging photobook imprint Sleeper Studio, sequencing such anonymous photographs with literary fiction can be an opportunity to provide new meaning.

Proof is a selection of vernacular proof photos from the collection of Robert E. Jackson, curated by publisher, photographer, and fellow vernacular-obsessor Ben Alper. On its own, it’s a bizarre testimonial to pre-Photoshop retouching. A nod to historical obsessions with fantasies of beauty and perfection. Red lines stretch across faces, cutting them up, scrutinizing, and suggesting “improvement.” Instructions for removing wrinkles. An opportunity to take home a memento of a major life event – a wedding or a graduation. Watermarks assuring a sale.

As images alone, Proof shows the power of images to deceive. But there’s more. The images are accompanied by texts by Edith Fikes - narrative lists and long-form tales that create new fictions for these images. Captions like: “I had my first auto accident when I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I was driving my father’s new car” and “Connie and Dean’s wedding, 1950. (Dean married Constanza and she changed her name to Connie.)” create a surreal historical memoir. It’s nostalgic but we’re not sure what for, a narrative that is as equally open-ended as it is specific.

I contacted Fikes, Alper, and Jackson to learn more about their process and ideas.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Edith Fikes, Ben Alper, and Robert E. Jackson

PostedDecember 16, 2020

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesPhotobooks

TagsProof photographs, Sleeper Studio, Robert E. Jackson, vernacular photography, best photobooks of 2020, snapshot photography, word and image, Edith Fikes, Ben Alper, interviews with photography collectors

Image courtesy of the collection of Robert E. Jackson

Robert E. Jackson finds metaphors for social distance in his collection of vernacular photography.

Social distancing is undoubtedly the word of the moment. Right now, more than 3.5 million photos on Instagram are hashtagged #socialdistancing, and nearly every photography organization has an open call related to the theme. We can't escape it.

As you might expect, it's been on the mind of snapshot collector, Robert E. Jackson. Over the past few weeks, Jackson culled his collection of over 14,000 vernacular photographs, looking for images that signal social distance.

“While snapshots deal so much with intimacy,” says Jackson, “I thought I would search my collection for photos which seem to deal with loneliness and disconnection. Not people by themselves, but people interacting in an odd way with other people.”

Although we have no knowledge of the backstory behind any of these images, looking at them now might give some clarity and humor to what we are all experiencing.

all images appear courtesy of the collection of Robert E. Jackson

PostedMarch 30, 2020

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesGalleries, Vernacular Photography

Tagssocial distancing in photography, Robert E. Jackson, vernacular photographs, snapshots, vintage photographs, art during Covid19

Christmas Polaroid snapshots courtesy of Robert E. Jackson

If you’ve been reading Humble’s blog for the past few years, you’ll recognize our penchant for Robert E. Jackson’s curious collection of American snapshots. With more than ten thousand vernacular photographs in his collection, it’s a constant trove for the peculiar, hilarious, and unintentionally artful. Christmas-themed images have a special place in Jackson’s archives – a few years ago, we featured outer-space themed Christmas cards, and this year, we’re following the tradition with some Polaroids.

Not all of these images are “loud” in their strangeness – many are even boring at first glance. But they each offer a glimpse into the sometimes earnest, occasionally off-moments, personal documentation and celebration of the holiday before the digital age.

PostedDecember 23, 2019

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesVernacular Photography

TagsRobert E. Jackson, american snapshots, vernacular photographs, Polaroid Photography, Christmas snapshots, Christmas Vernacular

© Jane Deschner. From the series Remember Me. — © Jane Deschner. From the series *Remember Me*.

For nearly twenty years, Jane Waggoner Deschner has been accumulating found vernacular photographic snapshots and studio portraits – her archive now exceeds 65,000 – and manipulating them to change how we understand their meaning and imagined histories.

Deschner’s techniques range from digital manipulation to painstaking hand embroidery, often stitching famous, dry or ironic quotes to create what she describes as a “satisfying, meditative intimacy with mechanically captured moments of unknown people’s lives.” Her collages and embroidery range from personal explorations and existential ruminations on death to political commentary and discussions of gender.

Her latest series, Remember me: a Collective Narrative in Found Words and Photographs, includes 700 found photographs embroidered with anecdotes culled from family and friend-written obituaries. For Deschner, this process illustrates a collective narrative that reminds us of how we are all connected.

Longtime fans of her work, we invited snapshot-collector-extraordinaire Robert E. Jackson to speak with Deschner about her process and ideas.

Robert E. Jackson in conversation with Jane Waggoner Deschner

PostedOctober 10, 2019

AuthorRobert E. Jackson

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio

TagsJane Deschner, Jane Waggoner Deschner, Robert E. Jackson, Vernacular Photography, Found Photography, Snapshot Photography, Photography and death, artist interviews, photographer interviews

Bernice, 2018.  30" x 36" oil on panel. © Justin Duffus. Courtesy of Justin Duffus and Linda Hodges Gallery — Bernice, 2018. 30" x 36" oil on panel. © Justin Duffus. Courtesy of Justin Duffus and Linda Hodges Gallery

Snapshot collector Robert E. Jackson speaks with snapshot painter Justin Duffus about his work and inspirations.

Justin Duffus makes paintings from twentieth-century snapshots and snippets of Americana, highlighting the strange, humorous, often lonely, and sometimes inconsequential moments of everyday life.

In one painting, a boy sits at the edge of a motel swimming pool – shivering with arms crossed – swathed in cyan and blue tones. In another, three business-suited men in a nondescript room walk in a circle around another man, wrapping him in pastel streamers like a human maypole while two women watch. In other paintings, masked figures confront the viewer head-on, the harsh light of a cheap camera flash rendered with jarring elegance. Hung together, Duffus’ paintings embolden a mysterious, open-ended narrative, giving new energy to images with an anonymous or discarded past.

While his sources vary, some of them are based on images acquired from the collection of Robert E. Jackson, the Seattle-based vernacular collector-extraordinaire, whose collection currently boasts more than 12,000 American snapshots from the past century. Like Duffus’ paintings, many of Jackson’s snapshots have a similar attention to the peculiar, absurd or unintentionally artful. Following Duffus’ recent exhibition, Fear of Drowning at Seattle’s Linda Hodges Gallery, we asked Jackson – who is also a collector of his work – to speak with the artist about his practice and the ideas behind it.

PostedMay 7, 2018

AuthorRobert E. Jackson

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Portfolio

TagsJustin Duffus, Contemporary Painting, snapshots, vernacular photography, Seattle Artists, Robert E. Jackson, Linda Hodges Gallery

The Poetic Fictions in Vernacular Proof Photographs

Weird Christmas Polaroid Snapshots

Jane Waggoner Deschner Stitches New Narratives Into Found Vernacular Photographs

Painting Snapshots: Robert E. Jackson in Conversation with Justin Duffus

The Poetic Fictions in Vernacular Proof Photographs

Social Distancing in Vintage Snapshots

Weird Christmas Polaroid Snapshots

Jane Waggoner Deschner Stitches New Narratives Into Found Vernacular Photographs

Painting Snapshots: Robert E. Jackson in Conversation with Justin Duffus