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Hinckley, MN: Last year, I was introduced to and fascinated by a website / art project called Dear Photograph. When I took a trip to the motherland over the summer, I scrounged through old pictures, blogged my findings and submitted one to be (hopefully) posted on their website.
I hadn't heard back or seen anything posted, and though slightly disappointed, overall, I was just happy that I found such a unique and simple creative outlet. And made by a 22 year old Canadian to boot! But then in December, I received an email:
Thank you for your photo submission to DearPhotograph.com!
We are now in the final stages of choosing the photos
which will appear in our upcoming Dear Photograph book.
The book will include photos that have been featured
on the dearphotograph.com site,
as well as other submissions that will be unique to the book.
We are pleased to inform you that your submission
is one of many being considered for inclusion in our book.
How fabulous! I had no idea that a book would be published, but this might be an even more unique than having a post on a website. After another four months, another email came:
This is the day we have long been waiting for
and we can now officially tell you
that a photo you had submitted to DearPhotograph.com
will be featured in the upcoming book Dear Photograph.
I immediately
pre-ordered the book featuring my photo and when it arrived, I hurriedly flipped through the pages, waiting to see my little self and grown up thumb. Then on page 159, I saw it:
It's 4(ish) year old me, standing in front of the house I grew up in on 23rd Street, blowing a kiss. Mom always told me to blow kisses as she took my photo, but only seemed to be able to capture the hand out part. I have tons of pictures of me as a child, with my arm extended. When I returned to the same spot last year, I actually went back twice since the photo didn't line up perfectly. Mom sat in the car and waited as I spent about 20 minutes making sure the vintage orange grass in the photo matched up with the freshly cut grass of today. (My perfectionism seeps into all areas of my life.)
I was excited that I had been published (granted, in someone else's book, using someone else's idea... but published nonetheless) but the bigger thrill came when I received a text from a friend who said "I just heard them talking about your photo on NPR."
Now, I
love NPR. It's where I get all my news and interesting tidbits of information. And where I can listen to
my secret boyfriend and play along with (though very poorly) the other Carolyn on
Says You! And NPR saved me when my heart was broken and I couldn't listen to any music because it was all about
love. You can't really get too emotionally triggered by stories of the national debt (other than they're talking about the national debt).
GREENE: I'm looking at one photo where it's an old, kind of, fading photograph of a little girl standing on the sidewalk. And that photo is being held up by a woman, almost lined up with the sidewalk as it stands today. And she writes: "Dear Photograph, I'm still blowing kisses."
JONES: Yeah, I know. That one is really well-lined up. Like, it looks like the sidewalk still has like the same grass growing onto the sidewalk. And like the light poles lined up and all the houses along the side are lined up. And you can still see the cars are lined up real well.
GREENE: Although different style cars. The cars in the old photograph look like they're from the '60s...
Three observations about that conversation:
1. I'm so glad I spent 2 trips and an additional 20 minutes making sure the picture lined up just right. Obviously I am not the only one who appreciates a little perfectionism.
2. Those cars are from the '70s, David Greene. Not the '60s.
3. THAT WAS MY PICTURE THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT ON NPR!!!!!
After the thrill has gone, I am left with only one choice: figure out a creative way to get myself on NPR on my own.
(And listen to the show HERE one more time....)
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