You’ll notice that this brilliant photo has been mauled with scissors. This was a common practice for me during my early high school days, as I maintained a “funky” collage-themed photo album. Now, though, whenever I flip through the pages of hacked up images, I want to strangle Teenaged Me. (Yes, mom. I’m sure you told me I would regret it. Well, you win.)
Midway through putting the photos from our European vacation into the album, reason took hold, and I stopped cutting things up. I am mighty glad I did, because there are some real gems in there that can only be appreciated in their original context. For example, across from our hotel in Paris was a temporary fair grounds that had been set up to celebrate the new millennium (remember that whole thing?). After dinner one night, we walked through it and something caught my eye: An enormous, inflatable rooster head, which I guess is what the French felt symbolized Y2K. I had to photograph it. I needed to show all of my friends back home. So I stopped, pulled out my crusty old Olympus, and took the photo. I think you’ll find the result to be nothing short of pure art:
My coffee table book will be for sale shortly.
