The adventures and various works of a photographer, road tripper, former patron of the local arts, aspiring app developer, and late night coffee drinker and conversationalist.
I'm an informal collector of vintage and antique photo snapshots and slides. Professionally taken pictures of course have their own particular charm and value, but when I'm perusing antique malls and estate sales, it's the vintage stuff I'm on the lookout for. My tastes trend heavily toward depictions of places I have visited, historical oddities and one of a kind items, children/families, local history, and the occasional random, heartwarming or otherwise eye pleasing snapshot. I pick these up wherever I find them, whether at the aforementioned antique malls and estate sales, online listings, or anywhere else they happen to cross my path.
Here I present a selection of items from my vintage photo collection, all of which depict locations I've visited during my various road trips across the United States and Canada. They are accompanied by some of my own photos of the same or similar locations.
Grand Canyon, 1922
I visited the Grand Canyon's North Rim in October of 2021. The writing on one of my pair of antique photos identifies the views as having been recorded to film in June 1922, some 99 years prior to my visit.
Grand Canyon, June 1922
Continue reading "Scenes from my vintage photo collection"
I like to hit the thrift stores from time to time looking for clothes, older electronics, music, or just the random unexpected item I can't live without. These are some of my best scores to date.
VitaMix 3600
One afternoon in 2013, while the rounds of the K Avenue thrift stores in Plano, I stumbled upon an incredible find. It was the base and motor portion of an old Vitamix 3600, which dates to sometime in the late 1960s. Vitamixes are renowned for their power, longevity, and long-term reliability, and after plugging it into an outlet I was able to confirm that the motor worked as well as ever. Unfortunately, there was no price tag on the base, and the rest of the unit was missing. I took it up to the checkout counter and asked for a price, only to be told that the manager would need to look at it and get back to me. A couple of days later, I was able to finally get a price quote... ten dollars. I sourced a vintage carafe, lid, and Action Dome off eBay (not dirt cheap, but still much better than trying to buy a complete unit) and using them I was able to assemble a completed machine. As I already owned my own high powered Vitamix blender, I gave the thrift store one to Hannah (she of the lemonade post), who I knew would appreciate it. Top notch new Vitamixes can retail for $500 to as much as $1,000.
Hannah showing off the fully reassembled Vita-Mix 3600. Photo by Corey Geloneck.
I've acquired a good number of autographed albums over the years, many from having purchased directly from the artist and having them signed, and some as incredibly lucky finds while shopping secondhand. These are some of the more notable ones.
The Best of LaVern Baker
Bought at Half Price Books in 2021
I bought the disc for the music, casual fan that I am. I paid no attention to the writing scribbled across the front until a day later when I actually took a good look at it, realizing to my surprise that it appeared to be an autograph. After researching and comparing my specimen with examples of her signature found online, it does appear that this one is legit.
Continue reading "Autographed albums"
Maybe it's happened to you. There's an artist or a song you really like, you come across it on a compilation CD somewhere, excitedly buy the disc, and eagerly pop it into your CD player... only to find that the songs you thought you bought were in fact shadily marketed re-recordings and not the original hits!
Hannah showing off the fully reassembled Vita-Mix 3600. Photo by Corey Geloneck.
I bought the disc for the music, casual fan that I am. I paid no attention to the writing scribbled across the front until a day later when I actually took a good look at it, realizing to my surprise that it appeared to be an autograph. After researching and comparing my specimen with examples of her signature found online, it does appear that this one is legit.
