by Dennis Freeman

Last year I was looking for some light reading and stumbled upon Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Having heard of the film by the same name, I had a sense that it might fill the bill even though its target readers were teens and young adults. Hey, I liked Harry Potter. I read it and liked it a lot.  In particular I was very intrigued by the photographs the author selected to illustrate the book.  In hindsight, that’s actually backwards – he had a collection of bizarre photos that he built his characters around!  This unusual use of found photographs ties directly to another of his books that I’m reviewing. 

Here is a small sampling from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children:

I was curious as to what other books Ransom Riggs might have written and found something very unusual: Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past.  I couldn’t resist.  This is the subject of my review.

Riggs, Ransom. Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2011.  Available in multiple formats online at the usual places.

Ransom Riggs has had an odd hobby for a long time – collecting old snapshots from garage sales, antique shops and flea markets.  This explains where he got those wonderful photos for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  Eventually, he had thousands in his collection.  He selected the best ones with original captions and assembled them into the 384 page Talking Pictures. This is not a novel, and does not have a story.  It is not a documentary.  It is more like a book of street photography, except for the street photography.  It is a collection of photos mainly from the first half of the 20th century, with some going back into the late 1800’s.  Unlike the gorgeous photographs in many art books, these are just black-and-white snapshots – mostly the kind of shots people take of their families and pets.  

This collection reflects the times and character of earlier eras, a history in pictures with original captions. In seven chapters Riggs organizes the collection into thematic groups including “Times of Trouble,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Love and Marriage.” The collection is wonderful and nicely assembled.  These pictures elicit a range of emotions.  Some are funny enough to make you laugh and others are tragically sad.   And everything in between.  How many books can offer that?

Not every photo in this book is equally interesting or emotional.  A lot of the photos are silly or corny or staged.  Most are of people, but not all.  A number of the wartime photos are unpleasant or disturbing for various reasons.  I thought it was best to keep my “historical” filter on for a number of shots in this chapter.  

They were all personal mementos representing subjects and their photographers who are no longer alive.   They are haunting glimpses into anonymous and increasingly forgotten past lives.  

I found it hard to put down.  There was always the curiosity of what’s on the next page.  I was happy that I purchased it, and happy that I got it in hardcopy (paperback).  That’s kind of the point, right?   

I discovered the following YouTube video by Ransom Riggs that is perhaps the ideal introduction to his book:  YouTube: Ransom Riggs on Talking Pictures

You can contemplate for yourself how the existence of snapshot prints of family members provides for more enduring memories of those people  (versus digital images).  

For those interested in starting their own collection of found photographs, there is a photography Meetup opportunity on March 10!  Emmitsburg Antique Mall: Photographers of the Wash/Balt Area   If nothing else, you can make ephemeral digital photos of the enduring snapshots you find there …