Memory Men

Memory vessels were made by placing small everyday objects such as keys, screws and nails, glass vials, shells, nuts, and jewelry on the surface of bottles or ceramic jugs using putty, cement, or other adhesive material. Many of these folk art pieces were coated with gold or silver paint, and thus require especially close inspection to discern details; others were left plain so that each applied object was easily recognized.

More information here.

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A few years ago, I was kicking around a Halloween theme of something we called Wood Demons. Imagine the Bog Man but made entirely of wood and twisty things and mushrooms and fungus and dead bugs. Saw these memory vessels and thought of the idea again. Memory Men. Forest things. Rotten wood and all the soft detritus from a forest floor.

From The Bog

Old photo from 2007 of the Bog Man in the workshop.

Man Of The Mires

Sunset Shot

Back in 2003, the Halloween display was ready to go and we were standing around waiting for nightfall. The sun was setting and the clouds started to turn pinkish blue. I ran and grabbed the camera and took a photo. A tradition was born. Every year I try to get a shot that includes the back of that year's scarecrow(s) and the setting Halloween sun.

It's also a neat way to document the weather. May we NEVER have rain on Halloween again.

Office Jack

Bog Man's legs to the right.

Bog Man Country

Drove by the site of the Bog Man photo shoot today, so I got out and snapped this pic.

Bog Man

Neat to find this photo on flickr while searching for scarecrows. That long stick growing out of his temple snapped off while bringing him home.

Image source.

Old And Random

Observation

Over the years, I've taken a lot of weird props out for photo shoots. Rarely is it a rural setting. And sometimes it's in a pretty public place, much to my discomfort. But a few comments about the recent photos of the Pumpkin Sentinels got me to thinking. When the joggers who ran in-between the Sentinels didn't even acknowledge their existence with so much as a smile, I started to think back on all the old location shoots. The one constant in each shoot was how people reacted when they saw me and my camera and my monster - they look away and make zero eye contact. I'm not posing this in an egotistical way. I certainly don't mean that I want them to shower me with effusive praise. In fact, I actually prefer being treated like a madman eating flies who people hope will just wander away : )

If someone's in a car driving by, they'll smile and point. If they're not in a car, they try to ignore me.

Just an observation.


The dawn photo shoot of The Bog Man. Houses to the left of him. A road to the right.

Old Bog

2007 Leftovers

Bog Man Video

Went through old files the other night and found this video from when I took the Bog Man out for his photo shoot. I stuck some music from the film PLASTERHEAD to it. Bad movie, GREAT score.

The Scarecrows

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  More photos at Pumpkinrot.com