valician

[valician]

Nostalgicons #19 - Organic

Every other time, I had an idea of how the final collage comprising 10 sets of 10 photos will look like, though not always the color composition. In the sets where I'm not aiming for a certain ratio of colors or a theme, I just try to shoot a little of everything without exactly keeping track. This time, however, I had no shape in mind for #19, and let the colors mostly dictate the shape. The result is the vaguely X or butterfly-shaped asymmetrical blob, which I gave rounded edges to make it look more natural.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 190 Part 2 / 2

Snocap & Cinders

90's Mix CDs

Formula 1 Race Car

Pink Bear

Nickelodeon Rockets

Set 190 Commentary

When applicable, which is most of the time (an exception being more circular objects like cups or the rockets here), objects have tended to be facing or pointing to the left throughout the series, unless its "better side" is seen when it's facing to the right, which is chosen for any number of reasons. While not a hard rule, this is done to make the majority of objects "look" towards the past, given how the western world tends to read from left to right.

In Wireless, the eleventh collage shaped like a wi-fi icon, most objects were facing towards the right instead; looking "ahead." Originally, that one was to be the last of the series and was the first and then only planned collage to feature objects from the early 2000s, exclusively. Hence, with eyes towards the future. The rule of looking to the past is again the norm.

Sometime soon, likely at least starting later this year, I will begin to work on the 20th and final set of ten for the series, concluding it with 2,010 photographs.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 190 Part 1 / 2

Debbie and Elephant

My Little Animal Friends

Dratini Plush

Gus Griswald

Playmobil Queen

[valician]

A rare Nostalgicons correction. While scanning past collages for things I've already shot, I realized that a certain blue heart bear got reshot years after appearing in the second collage (Water). I'm pretty thorough about this sort of thing, but I guess it's not a big surprise considering I've taken almost 2,000 photos in this series. Hopefully it hasn't happened a second time, but I wouldn't be surprised. Fortunately, I have yet to get around to printing Isometry, so nothing lost I suppose.

Pablo here will be filling the role of replacement in Set #177. One less bear in the corner cluster, but he kind of fits near Slippery at least.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 189 Part 2 / 2

Bead Turtle

Horse with Sounds Speaker

Camaro Sports Car

Suction Skull

Pokéman Snap Album and Hey You Pikachu Instructions

Set 189 Commentary

Self-created or artistic items have appeared infrequently across the series, but only if I consider them familiar constructs that would be familiar to a number of people who were also kids at the time. For example, the wooden boat seen in Set 10, or the bead animals, typically lizards, which have cropped up a few times and were created en masse during a certain phase in the house—where they still reside, in scattered locations.

Somewhat similarly, we also have Pokémon Snap photographs printed at Blockbuster that are over 25 years old. Getting to add a semi-unique touch to the series through things like these helps to make a project documenting the stuff of childhood even more personal.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 189 Part 1 / 2

Wild Thornberrys Hippo

Powers of Ten Flipbook

Raphael Motorcycle

Allen Strange Spinner

CatDog Dump Truck

[valician]

New creepypasta! Something goes wrong during the final episode of a late-night talk radio show in 1978, and it’s heard in the airwaves over Syracuse. Did it really happen, or was it just a hoax? And how does this connect to a previously posted story?

Read it here

This one, or at least its setting, was inspired by the recent movie, Late Night with the Devil.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 188 Part 2 / 2

Nintendo 64 Promo Tape & Super Mario 64

Firefighter and Shotgun Guy

TWA Wings

Smoochy and Pecan

Crab

Set 188 Commentary

After many years working on this project on and off, I've finally photographed my copy of Super Mario 64, having shot most (if not quite all) of my Nintendo 64 collection. I'd been holding off on it, trying to make it a little more special by including the official player's guide for it, but unfortunately it just never turned up. Luckily, though, this Nintendo 64 promo tape did, which I must've watched several times at least, and it made for the next best companion to the legendary game.

The buildup and hype for Nintendo's transition into 3D gaming was one of the more memorable eras of my childhood, and like many kids in 1996, I got my console (with Mario and Pilotwings, naturally) on Christmas Day. And the game still has all of my saves on it, after all these years.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 188 Part 1 / 2

Disarmed Windup Blastoise

Mega Bloks Dragon Skull Rock

Bootleg Audio Tapes

Hot Wheels Reptar Wagon

Rock Steady

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 187 Part 2 / 2

Jurassic Park and Sphere

Space Jam Button

Bunny Glass with Hearts

Wristband

Tiny 747

Set 187 Commentary

Shooting popular, well recognized toys draws the eye of more viewers, after the finished collages has already beckoned them over. While mass-produced and usually still easily found everywhere, these objects are also completely unique in their wear and tear and in the stories attached to them. Acquisition, handling, the environment where they were kept, the amount of time they were played with or neglected; these are not things that have been sealed away immediately after production. Of course, most of those stories have been lost over time. Some specific memories of interacting with the toys, books, and everything else remain, still exist. For the majority, though, I can't say how they ended up in my collection, so digging into a bin from the past is like pulling out unexpected fossils. Only, you know they once meant something to you, before being forgotten.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 187Part 1 / 2

Gaia Online Coco Keychain

Tips & Tricks June 1999

Little Plastic Steamboat

Space Shuttle 1996

Dragonfly and Bee

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 186 Part 2 / 2

Pocahontas - Where's Percy?

Mickey and Minnie Glass

McDonald's Brown Bear

Salmon

Gator

Set 186 Commentary

Most of what I shoot is still in my, or my family's possession. Some things were a part of my childhood but had to be refound or rebought. Some things I never owned, but still have a connection to my past, whether close or distant. Together, these thousands of things form a portrait and identity, even though each tiny thing contributed little to it. In that way, this series is about both collective nostalgia, and a personal one. Many objects and toys are familiar to many people. Others are very obscure, likely with lost histories, and may be things no one has ever taken a serious photograph of before.

More on these concepts later.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 186 Part 1 / 2

Scooter

Diddy Kong Racing Promo Tape

Ladybug

Plastic Houses

Yomiko Cat

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 185 Part 2 / 2

Nintendo Power Issues #161 & #162

Dancing Puppet Cow

My First Sony

Die-cast B1 Bomber

Dimetrodon Skeleton

Set 185 Commentary

Most, but not all of the collages have a theme, either color or content based. While they're fairly obvious, here they are:

Colors: Water, Fire, Tree, Screen, Rainbow (Colorful objects), Star (10 sets of color-themed items), Collide (Warm and Cool)

Subject: Wireless (Only Early 2000s things), Hourglass & Time (Divided 1980s-2000s items and Pre-1980s), Pyramid (Characters), Trefoil (Toys-Media-Objects), Isometry (Quadrant of Characters, Cheap Toys, Figures, and LEGOs).

Themeless: Spiral, Geometry, Circles, Radial (But has a high object count), Doorway.

This current set of ten, the 180s, will be the last themeless collage, composed of whatever I find and centered around "lost" toys found in the family storage unit. It does, however, a minor thing going on where each set only has two media objects.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 185 Part 1 / 2

FairyWinkle

Simpsons on Parade

Bronze MicroMachine Car

Gray and Brown Dino

Egg Bunny

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 184 Part 2 / 2

Monty Python DVD Collection

Braves Baseball Bat Keychain

Blue Butterfly

Tracker, Roam, and Bruno

Wolfman

Set 184 Commentary

Beanie Babies, instantly recognizable and were prolific in the 90s and early 2000s, are not worth the thousands of dollars today that they were "supposed" to be, and can often still be found in thrift stores en masse for cheap. Still, the collection we built up while they were around was large enough to sustain their presence throughout this series, and digging them out and handling their soft, high quality material for shoots has always given me little nostalgic flashbacks.

There have been a few times where both the regular Beanie Baby and its smaller McDonald's counterpart (which were sometimes in even higher demand) have shown up across the collages.

Also, Monthy Python is a central influence on my sense of humor.

[valician]

Nostalgicons - Set 184 Part 1 / 2

Fisher Price Farmers and Horse

Toucan

Ice Cream Truck

Pokémon Snap Guide

Tiny Helicopter