Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued From the Past Read online

  It’s my hope that someday soon the act of collecting and saving old snapshots will be more than just the unusual hobby of a few, and that we’ll stop dismissing them as just “other people’s pictures.” There are a few places in the United States—like Los Angeles, with its robust flea market scene—where these photos have a better-than-average chance of escaping the dumpster. But even there, these precious pieces of our history, some of them unintentional masterworks of photography, are thrown away every day. If nothing else, I hope this book inspires a few people to take a second look at Great-aunt Susie’s old pictures before they fall victim to an aggressive spring cleaning.

  Before you throw anything out, be sure to glance at the back.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I need to thank:

  My mother, for giving me that Pentax camera for Christmas when I was thirteen, and for saving all our old family photos.

  My wife, Abbi, for her endless assistance and encouragement.

  My agent, Kate Shafer Testerman, who believed in this project from its earliest stages.

  My editor, Calvert Morgan, for his sure-handed guidance.

  My photo collector friends, for helping me find and lending me many great images, for allowing me into their homes and lives, and without whose enthusiasm this book would not exist. Many thanks to Steve Bannos, Robert E. Jackson, Peter J. Cohen, Erin Waters, John Van Noate, David Bass, Leonard Lightfoot, Roselyn Leibowitz, Angelica Paez, Stacy Waldman, Albert Tanquero, Michael Fairley, Ben Zeigler, Sarah Bryan, and Lynne Rostochil.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photograph by Lara Porzak

  Ransom Riggs is the author of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, a novel illustrated with found photographs. He’s a filmmaker and a photographer, too, though he’s convinced he’ll never take a picture to rival some of those he’s found at flea markets. He lives in Los Angeles.

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  Credits

  Designed by Lorie Pagnozzi

  Cover photographs from the author’s collection

  Cover design by Kenneth Choi/Jarrod Taylor

  Copyright

  TALKING PICTURES. Copyright © 2012 by Ransom Riggs. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

  FIRST EDITION

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-06-209949-5

  Epub Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780062099501

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