And just like that folks, another month wrapped for 2024, this one with an extra day for us to leap about. Shout out to my ‘96 friends who have just celebrated their seventh birthdays.
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I’ll start with an amazing drop of serendipity. Stuff like this happens to me all the time. It feels of late there has been a distinct void of such sparks, some celestial cynics might blame the mis-scattering1 of stars, but last night BAM. A meteorite landed, hitting me with all the rush you can get from seeing an actual shooting star.
You may have noticed I’m making a book using photographs from Photobooth. The original photobooth is one in Florence:
On my way to the studios, when I lived there, I’d see the same chap pop by every Wednesday to change the chemicals & ensure the mechanics were running smoothly. I’d get a kick out of seeing it all happen, feeling that I was indeed living some Amélie destiny. I’m a simple egg2, really.
Fastforward to, let’s say, a year ago. I was on my usual route from St Pancras to Soho, via Waterstones on Gower Street. The café has an old school photobooth, made on traditional papers, just like the Florentine Fotoautomatica. On this occasion, I noticed someone had left a strip in the mouth of the machine! Of course, I did what was clearly my duty, and having ensured the guy in the picture wasn’t nearby to reclaim it, I kept the strip safe with me, in a box with all my other photo booth memorabilia.
Here he is. Circa Winter 2022.
Hold That Thought.
So, I'm scrolling on the gram, a delightful habit, and I come across a story by @autofoto.london; I’m chatting with them at the moment about the book launch for Anima. As is the nature of online/phone convos, people’s faces don’t really come into it.
And then, I saw their reel. February 2024.
Right! Yeah! Bam! Told ya.
*everyone, cross fingers we can pull off an event/launch together*
… And so to finish, here’s some mistic magic. Been loving these ambiguous cloudy February funks. Early walks into the void.
If I was a sales person, or remotely good at “marketing”, I’d work out how to entice you to buy a print for your wall, your friend, your mother, pet goldfish…
Let me know if you want to talk paper types + mounting.
PS. I have a new phone and minimal record of anything gone before it. Please announce yourself if we were meant to be meeting up etc!
Miscattering. An interesting mind fart. Is this a double negative? If one is scattered, and then mis-scattered, does this mean double scattered or just plain & simple organised?
Sometimes scrambled, it must be said.
that's amazing! Such a clear sign that you're on the right path!
Oh wow! Serendipity for sure; what an incredible coincidence. I really hope you can make it work together.