MURKETING

Flickr Interlude

Originally uploaded by a nameless yeast.

“The Virgin Megastore in Times Square, two days before it closed.”

Flickr Interlude

Tartar Sauce., originally uploaded by deadbetty.

Caption: “Big Boy’s not-so-secret sauce.”  B l a c k M a g i c version .

Flickr Interlude

Traget, originally uploaded by T-mo Supremo.

Caption explains: “Part of my Corporate America series which I’m trying to finish up before school comes to close. It’s been rare to find a day with good clouds, but today they came out and I managed to take advantage of the situation”

Flickr Interlude

homestead, fl, originally uploaded by a nameless yeast.

Flickr Interlude

Flickr Interlude

Welcome to Ashulia brickfield, originally uploaded by joiseyshowaa.

Caption explains: “Brick kilns by the hundreds line the rivers surrounding Dhaka fueled by feverish population growth and construction in Bangladesh’s capital city. Ashulia, a northern suburb, is also the home of Dhaka’s two large amusement parks – Fantasy Kingdom and Nandan.”

Flickr Interlude

Wigwam Motel – Route 66. Holbrook, Arizona, originally uploaded by Vintage Roadside.

Sunset at the Wigwam Motel along Route 66.

Flickr Interlude

Enjoy Bailout Package, originally uploaded by enjoybanking1.

I realized after reading Brian’s comment about Supreme’s wheatpasting that I’d actually seen the poster ads he was talking about — in the Murketing Flickr pool.

Taking a closer look, what these pictures are really documenting is the stickers  over the posters: “Enjoy Bailout Package,” and so on.  The profile of the Flickr contributor leads to this cryptic site, Enjoybanking.com, which describes itself as “a civic minded art and educational campaign aimed at restoring public public confidence in the finanical system, the economy, and the American dream.” There’s also a Twitter feed.

I’m not sure I really get it. But, you know, make of it all what you will.

Flickr Interlude

bagdad cafe, originally uploaded by europics.

From a set called “Syria — Souk & Shops.”

Flickr Interlude

Abandoned Livonia Mall- Main Shoppers Path, originally uploaded by senor miller.

Slate has started a Flickr project called “Shoot The Recession.” I rushed right over their Flickr pool to check it out, and invited a few participants into the Murketing pool. The above from a very interesting set: “Abandoned Livonia Mall.” Check it out.

Flickr Interlude

Sick of Useless Marketing…, originally uploaded by ASurroca.

The caption: “I couldn’t help but chuckle at these two signs. “we buy houses ca$h” on one, and “sick of useless marketing” on the other? Classic. I later called the number for kicks, and heard a recording from some guy with a faint New York accent hawking some kind of small business marketing pamphlets.

“Of course, feel free to call, and leave them an entertaining message”

Flickr Interlude

empty sign nineteen, originally uploaded by arkansasridgerunner.

This is from a surprisingly interesting set called Signs of the Times. Check it out. I hope arkansasridgerunner keeps it up, because it has a lot of potential. In my opinion.

Flickr Interlude

Truncated Livelihoods, originally uploaded by tnachtrab.

Just Looking

maggie (florida), originally uploaded by geldenkirchen.

Here is an image from a Flickr set called The Maggie Project. Seems to be a series of images of a woman wearing a fairly creepy mask in a variety of situations. It’s quite interesting and I recommend taking a look.

Apparently these images were taken by Ofer Wolberger. The Flickr set includes an official statement that begins: “Photography has been a vehicle with which to examine notions of beauty and identity, conflicts of self perception and representation, and the role that visual culture plays in both. This exploration is expanded in (Life with) Maggie, by a fictional character who seems transported from another time and place, one presumably set in the past.” It continues in this unenlightening mumbo-jumbo vein for several paragraphs. I have no idea what any of it is supposed to mean.

However, again, the actual images are very compelling.

Via The Storque.

Flickr Set of The Month

Here is the second in The Murketing Organization’s series (explained earlier) of occasional mini-portfolio/short Q&As, relating to a particular set discovered on Flickr that has some relationship to this site’s subject matter. Once again Tom Hosford, of Washington & Lee University handles Q&A duties, this time interviewing the photographer who created this set of Vernacular Typography Polaroids. (This Q&A was delayed due to my technical difficulties; apologies to both interviewer and interviewee.) Take it away, Tom…

This set features the work of designer/photographer Douglas Wilson, who traveled across the U.S. and documented the hand-painted signs he encountered along the way.  His Polaroids captured a broad range of communities, each represented by the signs they possessed. — Tom Hosford

Q: From looking at these photos, it seems like you’ve managed to see a lot of states across the U.S.  Were you in these places for any given reason, or did you just want to explore small towns across America?

A:  Simply put, I love traveling. I have been blessed to visit 48 of the 50 United States (minus Alaska and Idaho). Many of my Polaroids were taken driving to visit my wife’s family in Jackson, Mississippi. To get there, we have to drive through many small towns in Missouri and Arkansas and they have some pretty amazing hand-painted signs. I have to admit that many times, I have turned the car around just to photograph a particular sign — you never know when these signs will be painted over or replaced!

What made you to decide to document your travels through photographing local signs, instead of landmarks, people, etc.?

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