Within just a few short weeks after taking them, news of these photos and others like them that he had created would sweep across the globe. Millions visited his website to see this digital imaging phenomenon for themselves, while hundreds struck out to create their own genre-like depictions and submitted them to Jones’ site to be included along with his.
A Kitchen Table, An Old Photo, and An Impulse.
Seems that when the 22 year old Taylor was flipping through an old family photo album at his parent’s kitchen table in May 2011, he happened to come across an image of his brother sitting at the very same table taken long ago. It was Jones’ next impulsive action that would be the tipping point.
What Taylor did next was to pull the old picture from the album, then while holding it in the same position as its original location among the table and chairs, he snapped a new picture with his digital camera. The result was a powerful new picture mixing the present with the past.
Taylor created a number of other picture within a pictures and then posted them up onto a website he called DearPhotograph.com. He then invited others to submit their own creations. Within just a few weeks millions were visiting his website, while hundreds were submitting photos of their own!
A Phenomenon Waiting to Be Unleashed
DearPhotograph.com set Taylor Jones upon a journey of epic proportion. Thousands of submissions later he has been featured by major media organizations from around the world. On May 8th, Dear Photograph the Book, is due out. The book shares 200 photographs, along with the personal stories of those submitting them.
In a recent interview, Taylor shared how some of the submissions were funny, while others emotional. Yet, it was the mix of emotion and nostalgia that he felt allowed people to relate to the resulting new images that combined the past and present, pulled at their heartstrings and has propelled DearPhotograph.com into its meteroric rise.
A Good Idea Goes Commercial
So, if you knew about DearPhotograph.com and were watching game seven of the World Series 2011, then you may have had a moment of déjà vu as the television commercial for the 100th birthday of Chevrolet aired.
Old photos of Chevy’s in the same place they were originally taken now appeared as a mix of the present and past in a picture within a picture, as a jazzed up version of “America the Beautiful” played on the background. Seems like the top-notch ad agency handling GM’s account knew a good thing when they saw it...and DearPhotograph.com was a good thing!
Time in a Bottle
It was Jim Croce who penned, “If I could save time in a bottle...”. Those words and that melody went on to help make him a number one hit singer-songwriter.
Preserving the past is a part of our make-up. It is who we are as humans. To be human is to collect things. We instinctively reach out to connect in order to add a sense of identity of who we are and what we have been through. Ultimately, this process shapes our futures.
For most of us, our very own time in a bottle has been a legacy of photographs. Enabled by the technology of a momentary photograph flash, trillions of fragments of time have been left have been left behind. In essence, leaving ‘time standing still’. DearPhotograph.com has unlocked our bottled up emotions by providing a new platform that mixes our past with our present.
Interview with Taylor Jones, DearPhotograph.com Creator
