Hey Rube! Carnivals Circuses Fairs

Recently, "This American Life" on National Public Radio (NPR) did a broadcast episode about carnivals. It brought back cobwebs of memories. I was no older than eight. My parents imagined giving my sister and me the "Leave It to Beaver" summer family vacation experience. We traveled to Wildwood, New Jersey. 

 

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One Penny Post

 In photography’s infancy first came the carte-de-visite.  A fashionable gentleman would make a social call and leave his picture card on a silver tray in the parlor.  Then in the 1850s, after Napoleon iii posed for his formal portrait, they became all the rage.  During the Civil War, photographers documented families for posterity. The small albumen prints gained tremendous momentum as soldiers marched off to battle.  Millions were sold.  They were sent in great numbers at the height of European colonialism.

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Photographic Roadwarriors: Carry-on Luggage

A few seasons ago I presented my client with an invoice for $6000. It was the bill for extra & overweight baggage on airlines for just one project. That did not include one ticket, one meal, no hotels or assistants & no photography fees. Just bags. For years I had been traveling with basically the same amount of equipment whittled down to a quite manageable pile but in recent times the airlines realized that they could exploit extra fees for luggage. My client was NOT amused.

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