Photo Confetti pt. II

My friend recently returned from a trip to Colorado and brought me back some old photographs he found at a junk shop in the mountains somewhere. Here's some.


This guy doesn't fuck around: You order a beer, sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. Written on the back:
"Dear Mr Mead- Walt Hall's Bar, Rapid City, So Dakota. -J. Silverman"
After a little research I discovered that this man's descendants donated money to erect a statue of James Monroe in Rapid City's downtown Presidential Walk sometime in the 1990s. That's SO Dakota. But really, how about that.



"Dick taken at Gettysburg." Film at 11.





At first glance this seems like a staid portrait of a typical midwestern home in the early part of this century. But wait-- There, next to the bush!!!
.
.

/not that there's anything wrong with that





I happen to adore this photograph. A classic representation of boyhood innocence, pastoral simplicity, even overtures of the American Dream itself.



ha ha weirdo.





Look closer.


Yeah.
/cheap


--but-----


This photo disturbs me. It's something intangible; the moment I looked at it I just got a bad feeling. At first it looks like a normal sunset w/ sailboat scene, but something's not right.

I've seen quite a few sunsets over water in my time, and never has it appeared stained. Also the light in the sky doesn't correspond to the object-as-sun, as the source of light is obviously beyond the upper limit of the frame. The only other thing I can think of is the first millisecond of a nuclear blast, but this is hardly likely. It's almost as if the negative emulsion itself was intentionally scratched off here. Moreover, that isn't a sailboat in the distance.

It's a lighthouse, and you know that makes it a bit creepier. I can't say why.

Thanks for the nightmares, Pete.