CITY DAILY PHOTO JULY THEME - FLEA MARKETS

There used to be a wonderful big annual flea market in St. Louis to benefit the symphony called the Gypsy Caravan. I would go shoot every years. Sadly, they had trouble keeping an appropriate venue, it moved to the outer suburbs and gradually withered. You could find all sorts of interesting stuff but I wouldn’t try to restore this violin.

See bric-a-brack found by City Daily Photo members around the world at https://citydailyphoto.org/category/theme-days/                 

Another Day In Gotham

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I bet the people in the next car never even noticed. So where are they supposed to be, in a tunnel (it's never too long until the next stop) or a station? Did they mug the conductor so they could lock the doors shut? What's with the Robin Hood meets dirty old man outfits? This poster I saw at the Gypsy Caravan must have been for an old movie. You can tell - no latter day New Yorker in his/her right mind would ask for a sum as trivial as one million dollars. Donald Trump would fire them.

That's it for the Gypsy Caravan unless I run out of new material down the line. There is a set with all I've edited, many of which were not on the blog, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcrowe/sets/72157629975865922/ . Tomorrow we start looking at a lot of people who like to pretend they're in central France 500 years ago, and their pals who like to drink with them.

Who's The Fairest Of Them All?

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The mirror isn't on the wall but it will do. This woman might be with her daughter or granddaughter. Will they find anything at the flea market to make them more beautiful?

One last photo from the Gypsy Caravan tomorrow and then onward. The destination, in some people's minds, is the Lyon of 1518.

Character Studies

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Church artifacts, nicknacks, beer souvenirs from the Gypsy Caravan.  That top one is so Catholic (and I have firsthand experience).  In the middle, some bit of publicity for Falstaff beer, once a great St. Louis brand now passed into history, featuring Sir John himself. The red-faced gentleman behind him may be Buster Keaton but I'm not sure. I think the doo-dad on the bottom is an egg cup. Would you pay $24 to have that staring at you under your soft-boiled?

String Theory

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Okay, lame title but it's what popped into my head. And anyway, the picture is in two dimensions, not eleven. So, moving right along...

Electric guitars were a radical invention. Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton undoubtedly hastened Andres Segovia's death. The basic technology is  simple but how come most of the pickups are perpendicular to the strings but some are at an angle? Why do some instruments have one or two or three pickups? Who invented the whammy bar? There were no answers at the sale table at the Gypsy Caravan where I found these instruments.

Still Life With Stringed Instruments

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From a sale table at the Gypsy Caravan. I've had a go at both of these instruments in my time. I took violin for five or six years when I was a kid. Although classical music was a great love even in childhood, attempts to play the fiddle were a failure: good ears, bad hands.  I could distinguish Heifetz from Stern on recordings but my clumsy fingers couldn't play double-stops or trills to save my life. Later, I picked up a used electric guitar. Never made it past Louie Louie for the same reason. The image brings back memories, though.

La Mode de la Tête

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Most of the Gypsy Caravan sales area was spread across a few parking lots. It also filled a garage where much  of the merchandise could have blown away if it were outdoors. Several of the vendors had handmade, old or simply strange hats. The head mannequins were as interesting as the headware, with a variety of takes on the female face, a preference for elongated necks and very quiet expressions. Interpret them as you like.

Concealed Carry

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Firearms regulation is mostly left to the states in this country. Every single one of them except Illinois permits carrying a concealed weapon, mostly but not always with a license. You have to be at least 23 years old, take an approved training course and pay $100 but otherwise it's not too hard to get one in Missouri. Somebody could walk into my office packing heat. I'm sure it's happened. There are some exceptions. You can't carry a concealed handgun in a prison (that's a relief), bars (except the owner), publicly accessible hospitals (does that mean it's okay in a locked psych ward?), casinos (I said hit me!) or any church (amen, brother). Plus a few other places.

The gentlemen above were answering questions and selling merchandise for this trade at the Gyppy Caravan. Note the hunter-orange Cardinals cap and the tee shirt from the National Rifle Association convention that was here in April. The flea market booth below was run by a very friendly family selling toy wooden assault weapons. Buy one and get a pistol at half price.

Didn't make a lot of comments yesterday. The family made a late decision to see Othello at our summer Shakespeare In The Park festival. You have to show up very early to get a good seat on the lawn so we bring a picnic dinner and arrive before 6. To me, the main theme of Othello is humanity's boundless capacity to be wrong.

Barclay Street Art

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I went to a Jesuit high school. They were (and, I suppose, are) considered the top of the line for Catholic boys' secondary education. The Jesuits were no dogma sheep and many of my teachers were quite provocative. My freshman Latin and theology teacher, Fr. Fahey, would sometimes mention Barclay Street art, referring to a street in lower Manhattan where there were many Catholic religious shops. The good father (who notoriously made us recite Latin noun declensions against a stopwatch - I can still rattle them off) maintained that the images on sale down there were crude, manipulative and anything but expressions of serious faith.

This seems to be a latter-day example. I hope I do not offend anyone by posting this but it illustrates the range of bizarre stuff on offer at the Gypsy Caravan flea market. I'm not the person who put it on the sale table. Neither am I the one who put the golden dolphin behind it.

BTW, Mrs. C and I spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday at the St. Louis Renaissance Faire. Tons of good pix. Here's a teaser. More later in the week.

Statuesque

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I suppose this was a clothing mannequin, and a rather voluptuous one. Someone clothed it in irony, covering it in découpage images of fashionable young women and their stuff. It's very clever but I wouldn't want to live with it. Besides, the vendor at the Gypsy Caravan who offered it was asking $875. I'd rather spend the money on a lens or an airline ticket to someplace exotic.

At The Gypsy Caravan: Elvis Times Two

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The Gypsy Caravan is by far the largest flea market in the area. It's just one day a year, held on Memorial Day for the benefit of the St. Louis Symphony. The thing is just huge, covering a few parking lots and a whole garage at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Great place to shoot.

They got some weird stuff for sale up there.  These are similar but not identical plastic and foam busts of Elvis Presley. I suppose you buy the form and paint it to suit your own vision. The one on the left looks like it has Marfan Syndrome, more like Pharaoh Akhenaten than the King of Rock and Roll. The other makes me think that Elvis hit the bottle and pill jar too hard (he did, didn't he?) and then had a stroke. Note the sunken right cheek and loss of muscle tone around the left side of the mouth. (Well, if he really had a stroke these should be on the same side of the face. Leave room for poetic license.)

STL DPB will feature more wacky merchandise from the Gypsy Caravan over the next few days.

Honk and Tweet

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I have enough material from the Gypsy Caravan, Renaissance Faire and model shoot to carry me a few days. Today we sample the big flea market. Since it was for the benefit of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, it is appropriate to show some musical merchandise. I can't play any of this stuff. I took violin lessons for five years when I was a kid and never got beyond causing others aural pain. Very good ear, very bad hands. Klutz would be a simpler description. Now I just listen, and with pleasure.

On Angel's Wings

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From the Gypsy Caravan. One of the things I like about flea markets is the juxtaposition of random stuff on the sales tables. This one has a nice balance of winged creatures, colors and textures.

I'm going to a shoot today with the St. Louis Artist/Model/Photographer Co-op in a disused warehouse. Never been to one of their events before. Could be interesting. Could be pretty crazy.

Motorcycle Parts

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Well, my thanks to all of those who left comments on yesterday's theme day post. There were an awful lot by my standards.

Last weekend was photographically productive. I got some good stuff from the Renaissance Faire, the Gypsy Caravan flea market that benefits the symphony, and even the Cardinals baseball game. I'll bounce around among these for a while. The two men above, Randy and Chuck, were selling motorcycle stuff at the Gypsy Caravan. They were willing to pose with a little wheedling but they refused to look at their picture on the camera.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series

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La Vie En Rose

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Another vendor at the Gypsy Caravan. Beaming joy in shades of pink: la vie en rose. Or maybe she's just a Bobby McFerrin fan.

Ole Blacksmith

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I got some pretty good candid portraits at the Gypsy Caravan flea market and this one is a favorite. This man and his brother make black iron ornaments and implements for home and garden. He insisted his wife come sit on his lap for the picture and you can just see the affection. I'd love to send them a copy but their card doesn't have an email or web address. Tom or Jim, you have my email on my card. If you see this send me a message and I'll be happy to make you a print.

Yesterday's post received the least response in a long time. I really like it. Well, I once used the nickname Strangetastes. If you think Friday's picture was strange, wait till theme day on Monday. That photo hasn't actually been made yet. Hope I can pull off my idea.

The Chosen One

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From the Gypsy Caravan. How do you decide what to buy at a flea market? You pays your money and you takes your choice. De gustibus non est disputandum.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: the family is going to St. Louis' delightful Shakespeare In The Park festival. It's in a natural bowl in Forest Park near the Art Museum. People go early, bring a picnic dinner and watch all the wacky stuff at the pre-performance Green Show. This year they are putting on The Merry Wives of Windsor. The audience will sip wine and wait gleefully to see Sir John Falstaff get what's coming to him. They don't allow photography during the performance but there's lots to shoot before.

De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum

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The Gypsy Caravan was loaded with little figurines, dolls and toys, virtually all on sentimental themes. Would you buy any of this stuff for reasons other than irony? Readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of cute for cuteness' sake. If something cute turns up here, it's for a reason besides getting an "aaah, isn't that sweet?" reaction. But, as I've said before, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

I had a doddering old Jesuit for an ethics class when I was an undergraduate. He was fond of nattering on about the Latin phrase de gustibus non est disputandum, that is, there's no disputing taste. He meant that what he and his pals thought was good taste was beyond dispute. Reverend father didn't get it. He might have loved this stuff from the flea market but I can't be sure. What were his tastes? He might have been horrified at the music I like, both now and when I was 20 (I was 20 once, you know). You might have thought that his ideas about ethics were totally corny or that they were principled and based on centuries of thought. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

So, I don't think it's a good thing to look down your nose at porcelain figurines (even though I might sometimes), at least not publicly. What delights me may make you choke. Your ideal may provoke howls of derisive laughter somewhere. I won't dispute your taste if you don't dispute mine.

Many more photos have been added to my Gypsy Caravan set on Flickr, which you can view here.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series with all new material! Think cheap plastic camera.

AND BY THE WAY, the video on U "R" Us' post yesterday on Chicago Flair is ROTFL funny. It's a birthday party invitation. We shoulda been there. Check it out.

At The Gypsy Caravan

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The rain held off enough yesterday for me to shoot one of the two events to which I was invited. Showers moved thought the area all day. The Renaissance Faire is on again next weekend and will have to wait. but the other photo op was a treat.

The Gypsy Caravan, an annual fundraiser for the St. Louis Symphony, has been going on for 37 years. Never been before. it's a gigantic flea market where you can buy anything from the ridiculous to the sublime. I was reminded that gray days are great for small scale photography: saturated colors, no harsh bright spots and shadows, no squinty eyes. I wandered from vendor to vendor, uttering my magic words: "Hi, I'm doing volunteer photography for the Symphony." They opened all doors.

BTW, I'm very happy with this picture. Kind of Diane Arbus-y, although it's in color. There is a growing set of pix from the Gypsy Caravan on Flickr here.

TOMORROW: trinkets and figurines.