I received an interesting call yesterday from a reporter with the Tacoma News Tribune who was doing a story on the vintage neon restaurant signs of Tacoma and what the look and style of the signs say about the restaurants they advertise. Of course when he did a Flickr search using the tags "neon" and "Tacoma" he happened on a few Hikenutty photos. After seeing my (Hikenutty's) set of neon photos and realizing he had a compulsive sign person on his hands he decided to give me a call because the Tribune still had my number from the Waymarking article they interviewed me for last Spring. He figured I might know who Hikenutty was since she waymarked in the Tacoma area.We chatted about what waymarking is, what my Website Wayward is all about, and who this "Hikenutty" was who had a bunch of photos on Flickr. Some of the questions that he had for me were tough to answer. Why do I photograph them? What is it about them that I like so much? What are my favorite Tacoma area signs? (I had to give him three there - Poodle Dog Restaurant (night), Daffodil Motel (night) and the Golden City Cafe.)
How do you know why you love a certain thing? I love that neon can be art and science at the same time. I love how an old broken down, peeling sign looks - the colors and texture. I love how easy it is to turn an old sign into a very cool photograph. I love the history contained in some of them. Put that all together and add a complusive personality, and you end up with lots of sign photos. Plus, it helps that everyone in team Hikenutty is, well, nutty about old neon.
So for those of you out there who compulsively post waymarks to a specific category, what is it about that category that you love? What drives you to find yet another example to share with the Waymarking community? I'd love to hear any comments that you might have.
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4 comments:
Somewhere between middle school and late 2005 I'd forgotten that I like history. Waymarking (and to a limited extent, geocaching) reminded me.
Now I'm all about bringing these historical markers and wonderful bits of historic architecture to the world via the web. Some of it's already out there on the web, and I'm just adding some links to it and some of my own photos. And I'm hauling the Wife and her parents along for the ride sometimes. And showing my (mostly homebound) parents the photos and telling them stuff when I get back.
This comment is a test. It appears I can login via OpenID/LiveJournal. So if this comment shows up, from 0ccam@livejournal, then it worked.
Like 0ccam, Waymarking has definitely revived my interest in history. It also gives me a chance to play with photography again, and just get out and about...to see new things. Not being a native of the state I live in, everything is a new thing.
I especially like the neon signs because they are a throwback to when things weren't mass produced and vacuum formed. There is art in the overall design, the fabrication of the sheet metal, bending of the glass tubes, painting of the sign background and selection of the colors created by the different gasses. And when you light 'em up, they're cool.
Hmmm, whole team nutty about neon, you say? I don't understand what you're talking about. :)
Seriously, as far Team Farkle's concerned, if you're not attracted to neon like a moth to the flame, check yourself for a pulse.
As far as the neon (the real neon) category goes, I couldn't be more thrilled to see how popular it's become. In just it's first four months it's shot up to number 12 out of the 600+ categories. Thanks to not only the usual suspects but also it's great seeing submissions from new folks.
My deepest gratitude goes out to my fellow Neon Liberation Front officers & it's regular members too. I couldn't have pulled it off alone.
DB
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