“Dear Photograph,
Disney will always be magical, no matter what age.”
Taylor Jones has a blog called Dear Photograph in which he holds up old photos in the exact location that they were taken, bringing the past back to life. With each photograph, the owner of the image makes a statement about the photo. At first he was just posting his own photos, but now he gets tons of email submissions from all over the world. He is now hard at work on a book.
“Dear Photograph,
This was the best day. 650 days and counting…”
“Dear Photograph,
I’ll always remember the summers in that truck.”
“Dear Photograph,
Dad never took a picture of me, ever. Then I noticed his reflection in the glass.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad.”
“Dear Photograph,
I miss that playground.”

11 Comments
Michele on 07.02.2011 at 20:42 PM
How inspiring! Must try this soon! xoxo michele
Igor Ovsyannykov on 07.03.2011 at 09:31 AM
Reminds me of pencil vs photo.
Jona Olivia Payne on 07.03.2011 at 11:19 AM
This gave me chill bumps! What a neat, neat concept. Taylor is very talented!
StarChilde on 07.04.2011 at 02:41 AM
Impressive!
kenal on 07.05.2011 at 11:09 AM
This is original illustration with photography.
Ann on 07.12.2011 at 11:49 AM
how inspiring! I need to try this myself!
Thanks for sharing the idea.
Ann in Michigan
Mar D on 09.19.2011 at 22:04 PM
Taylor Jones, you should be ashamed of yourself!!!! You copied this idea from photographer Jessica Hines you has been working in this manner for years!! Shame on you!! No originality there! Too bad people just copy ideas with no substance…you are just a copy cat, you will never be like the original!
Jessica Hines on 10.12.2011 at 01:27 AM
You are right, thank you. I was completely in the dark about this until September 19th when it came to my attention. I was horrified. I have dedicated my heart and soul to my project and for the last four of the six years I have worked on this, I made images just like the ones you began making in May of this year. Your photographs — and what you encourage others to make, formally appear to be just like mine and I was quite upset when I saw it. I feel that this definitely takes some of the power away from my work. Taylor? What do you have to say about this?
Mar D on 09.19.2011 at 22:40 PM
Also, big influende of Ken Josephson’s work…If you do your work being inspired by another artist you should give them credit for their ideas…it is a matter of integrity…
Mr. Phil on 05.06.2012 at 00:12 AM
With a population of 7 billion on this planet, I’m sure at least a couple dozen people have had the exact same original idea as another. Jessica, I’ve viewed the galleries on your website and think that you’re an amazing, talented artist. Although I can see similarities with a few of your pieces, I feel the context of Taylor’s work is different. We all learn and gather ideas from each other. Maybe he’s a fan of your work as well?
Jessica on 05.06.2012 at 09:33 AM
Yes, I agree. It is quite possible for people to arrive at the same ideas independently of one another. Even photography itself was invented at the same time by several people –and at least in the beginning — unbeknownst to each other. Unconscious influences are at work for all of us. Many months have passed since the day when I first saw Taylor’s photographs and I’ve calmed down. Formerly, it looks very much like some of my work but conceptually, the work on his site has nothing in common with mine. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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