|
One of the by-products of looking through archives is a kind of artificial clairvoyance: you know what is going to happen next. Sandwiched between some loose papers in the archives of the British photographer Tony Ray-Jones at the Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford was a page from one of those old-fashioned desk calendars, the sort that gets torn off as each day goes by. A large red figure eight and the full date, 7/8/64, Wednesday July 8 1964; the reversed day and month indicated America. On the flip side were a few scribbled notes about how best to expose Pan-X film "for detail". Most of the other sheets contained lists, scribbled in swift capitals: "Some Story Ideas: Sunnyside Colony, Queens (German folk dancing etc), Festival of Flowers (call Buddhist temple), Gypsies and Gypsy weddings, Abyssinian Church Uptown - Fashion show (negro audience), People trapped in small environment - elevators (before door closes), Invisible people - shoe-shiners in Gnd Central, Women who live out of bags, People in Supermarkets - stop them and shoot yell stop. Bus terminals - Make people automatons."
| |
