ANTHONY R. VIZZARI | ARCHTOGRAPHIST

all I ever wanted was to destroy myself. …but instead, I ended up destroying you. I was a battleship and you were a duck, a swan, a water bird of some kind. with your arms around my shoulders, I felt the weight of all my words drowning us both. and even while gasping for air, you held tighter. I was a battleship and you were silk to a cigarette. with the start of one small smoldering hole, the entire cloth was devoured thread by thread. ***For those who don't get it... this is not an autobiogrical work or post. This is indeed fiction, part of my ongoing series, "Polaroid Epitpahs". http://polaroidepitaphs.com

At the Carousel #1: Gelatin Silver Print: 5x7: October, 2011 While it often seems like there is nothing happening... at least, from the silence between posts... I've been busy as ever. We just expanded to a new Chicago workshop, increasing our business footprint to about 15 employees, 1 studio/office with retail, 2 workshop/fabrication facilities (WI and Chicago), & one big old storage space. We are now hovering with somewhere around 60-70 photobooths in our stock (and they need homes, hence the expansion). So... yeah... I have not given in or given up. I push forward every day, strong as ever! I say, whose butt shall we kick next? As I noted in a previous post, Catherine Edelman Gallery recently included my "Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series..." in their Chicago Project. They recently posted a small selection of the project on their site. Give it a look-see when you have a chance. There are also some other really amazing photographers included in the Project. Other...

Booths & Bodies: The life and work of Anthony Vizzari from Philip Bloom on Vimeo . A few weeks back my good old friend Sarah Estella came to visit our studios with camera "rock star" Philip Bloom . It was great to see Sarah again, as always.... but it was also a pleasure to meet Philip, who is a machine (in a good way) in his camera wrangling. As a still photographer myself, it was fun to watch him move about, pan, twist, swap lenses, etc. As a subject, I felt like I knew Phillip for years, but just met him that day. The result was a well shot documentary short. (I wish my voice was cooler and I looked more like George Clooney, but hey... you work with what you got!). Philip literally has THOUSANDS of followers. I was on the road hauling photobooths from North Carolina to Chicago (AKA The Junkin' Trail). So, when my email box started exploding from the road, I was caught a bit off guard. The cool thing is that I'm not alone... other people also like vintage came...

Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Lipstick, Smoke Stacks & Pearls" : 8"x10" ( 1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011 Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Yosemite": 5"x7" (1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011 After a long break from the blog, an entry is surely due. The business has been going well. We hired a new group of employees this summer and they are fabulous. The new crew is great, all of whom are excited and working hard. Our in-house shop in Wisconsin is manufacturing booths at break-neck speed (thanks to our skilled and dedicated guys). We have recently had sales to England, Hong Kong, Spain, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, D.C., and New York... to name just a few. I also just refurbished some more classic chemical photobooths...bringing them back from the dead. We also acquired 30 more photobooths this summer (including 9 Polaroid booths secured for our friends at The Impossible Project). All these units and a TON of parts are no...

I'm not a religious person (at all).... but I love folk art and iconography. I hung these pieces at the highland house this weekend. Both are from thrift stores, of course! We had some workers take up some of the flooring to do a plumbing repair, before we came up (long story). We found out that the main part of the house is one of the oldest homes built in Highland. There are layers of flooring built up, for which this was one... I wish it wasn't covered. I love this design! (Also, part of the house is built on unmilled log timber joists... very cool.) UPDATE: The results of my recent MRI were not exactly what I wanted... it was what I had expected, but hoped would not be the case. My liver seems to be stable, which is the good news (i.e. tumors same size). However, the epicardial lymph node tumor, which became cause for concern in December, is very much progressive. From December to March, the tumor has increased in size from 0.9 x 1.6 to 2.4 x 2.9cm. Therefore, the node ha...

I've been slowly working on a new series of collaged negatives... But this time.... I'm mixing it up. I physically alter the negatives then head into the darkroom for printing. I then further work and collage into the final print. -This is a new for process for me. With this particular piece, I currently have 9 variations. Each one is entirely unique. I've also been printing on Kodak vintage paper that I got from a good friend of mine. Some of this paper must be at least 30+ years old . I just love the way it fogs and has a real antique feel. Technically, the paper going bad and the silver content somewhat fugitive. Nevertheless, I just love how inconsistent it is! On other fronts, the studio and store front is looking awesome. We now have all of our Impossible Project ("Polaroid") film out for sale. I'll be posting some images of the shop shortly. Tomorrow, I have another MRI. From there, if we see further growth and/or tumor aggression, we move toward chemo...

I just started this series. Right now, they are just studies. While I was working with the LIFE mags, I picked up some photos in the studio. It's nice to have the photobooths up and running all week. Every night before I leave the studio, I've been spending a little time taking pics. We'll see what comes next. On another note... we booked our tickets to Germany (with a little side trip to Madrid & Barcelona, Spain - assuming all goes well in Bad Berka...)

Woman Sleeping : Photographer & Subject Unknown (2001): Found 11/29/2010 (Oak Park, Illinois: Sony Cybershot 2.1 MP Camera). I purchased an old Sony digital camera yesterday for $5 from a local thrift store. There were hundreds of images still on the SD cards. Among the series of images, I found this one of someone sleeping... creepy or peaceful? I think creepy... I'm have an ongoing project collecting discarded digital memory cards, and saving and/or retrieving the images (deleted or not). It's amazing how we photograph the most mundane things, yet hold them so dear.

We moved into our new studio in Oak Park. We're settling in just fine and you can expect more things to come soon. The studio is located in the Harrison Street Arts District. There's still a lot of work to be done, but we're making progress. For exhibition, we plan on rotating some small photograhic collections on a monthly basis. Also in the works, a monthly "flea market" style sale. And of course, we have photobooths for public use. (More studio project details to follow in the future). If you're in the hood, drop by. We're open Monday - Friday, 10am - 6:00pm., or by appointment.

A few weeks ago, I found an old Argus C3 Brick Body camera in a Wisconsin shop. In near mint condition, I snapped it up for the fine price of $20. Without even clicking the shutter, the heavy metal body brought back a decade of images. The leather wrappers were perfect and the lens pristine. On my first trip to Italy, I packed that very same model Argus. Toward the oculus of the Pantheon in Rome, I aimed as it rained through the massive dome… I nearly slipped on the slick stone underneath my feet. When I was 19, I smuggled drugs from Tijuana across the boarder in the same camera. The pills fit ever so neatly between the shutter and film plane. I had spent that afternoon inhaling Tijuana street scenes; candid, dry, bright, dirty and cheap. It was a foolish expedition and that camera was my accomplice and confidant. In both cases, the camera was complicit in my exploits, strapped over the shoulder slung like a rifle. …it was the most perfect companion. ...It’s always nice to run across a...

The Statue of Liberty: A perfect symbol of freedom, long journeys, and triumph over struggle. This a photo post card I found a month ago... now part of the collection. Well, we are headed back to Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) morning! We met with Dr. Botha this morning and he gave me the OK to take off, if I felt up to it. Well, I'm ready to get home. We're not out of the woods, I'm only running on 30% of a liver and my WBC is high. He's not worried though. We just need to keep an eye out for ascites (excess fluid build up in the body cavity...). If this were the happen, I've have a fever, a ton of pain, swelling and general badness. The fix is basically being admitted to a hospital to drain the area. This happens in about 10-15% of patients, but if it were to happen, it can easily be treated in Chicago. I won't have my next set of scans for a few months when we will look at how the liver grew. Immediately, I'll just need to monitor labs and take it easy. T...

From the collection: 1908: I found this glass negative at a local fair. It's one of Chicago's first fireboats, sunk in 1908 at 16th & Canal. This was a great little score and piece of Chicago history! 03/22/2010: CT Left & X-Ray Right. Note the size of the liver in the CT and the 3 white areas in the X-Ray. Those 3 white spots are the wires used to clog the veins... (AKA - PVE) 03/22/2010: 3 CT sections. In the first image, you can see some growth of the left lobe. Note the center of the large tumor in the 2nd and 3rd images. You can see a bit more necrosis forming... at least, that's what I'm told it is. This could be via PRRT killing NET cells, or from the right lobe & tumor having a decreased blood supply? Or, both? The blog has been SILENT this week… That is not surprising, since all I’ve been doing is trying to get some rest (Spending a lot of time catching up on bad TV). I can’t stand it… If I have not returned your calls or emails, it’s because I j...

I found this photo postcard a few weeks ago at a local shop... I have no idea what this woman is doing. Circa 1915 -1920. Sunday was turning out to be a good day. Andrea and I were able to escape for a few hours to an Antique Fair (where I found some great glass negatives). After which, we went out for an early dinner (Indian food with lots of good veggies!!). When we got back home, I resumed some work at the computer. -I started to feel a pain in my side. Within a few hours, the pain had grown into an excruciating stabbing that radiated into my neck and shoulder. It got so bad that I couldn’t breathe, or, find a position that didn’t hurt. Even lying down was next to impossible. We contacted the on-call interventional radiology (IR) doctor Sunday night. He instructed us to contact them in the morning if the problem persisted. Well, after a nearly impossible night in bed, I woke up early and spoke with IR. The head nurse told me to proceed to the Northwestern ER. I was quickly admitte...

A bull fight...a found photo, from the collection. Today was much better... The Fentanyl (pain drug) they gave me yesterday made me sick with vomiting and a nasty headache. It was like I drank a liter of Vodka. -And it was not fun. The only thing that seemed to help was mint chocolate chip ice cream. The mint and cold helped with the nausea. and of course, it's easier to throw up, since it melts on the way down. (nice visual, right?) When the drug subsided, it left me with a good amount of pain in the middle of the night. This morning I was sluggish, the pain has started to subside a bit. I got a good deal of work done via email, etc. so the day was not lost. I have a few meetings and obligations this week, but for the most part, I'm going to try and take it easy. I'm working to confirm the surgery date, which is now tentative sometime between April 19th - 23rd. I'll have to have a scan first to assess the liver growth. Hopefully 6 weeks will yeild enough growth for s...

the sadist… by hook fire anchor or noose i saw no way out. i think execution machines were sweeter than you. but i could not stop craving your push and pull and empty words. i hung onto your every touch waiting for the branch to break or your knot to slip so i might breathe once again. by hook fire anchor or noose i wanted only you

1947 Memphis Studio: Taken with what I beleive was a P.D.Q Camera... similar to photobooth technology... somewhat. The blog has been silent this last week. Things have been beyond hectic trying to get my act together to disappear for a while (even if it is only for a week, or two?) I wish I had some great parting thoughts... but alas, I really don't. I don't even have any great German (found) photos? But I did recently find this image(above), which I love! All I can say right now is, I'll keep you posted!

It occured to me today just how many photobooth strips that I have (of myself!! - 1000+)... I service the booths, refurbish them, etc... And of course, every week I test the machines on our route. I have photostrips falling out of my ears. I'm wondering what to do with them all? Maybe a book, simply titled "Repair Man..." ??

Lillian was my grandfather’s sister, my mother’s aunt…and therefore, my great-aunt. With best intention, my mother recently sent me an old photo of Lil in a wedding dress, torn in half, without a groom. –black and white. In her mind, my mother was probably thinking… "wow, look at this old photo of Lil… you like old photos…and, well, you were somewhat close with Lil, so you should have this.” Of course, that gesture was great… I do like old photos, I did like Lil. I was legitimately surprised to see this torn modest artifact tucked inside a card. Under normal circumstances, I’d find something like this at countless flea markets, shops, etc… I’d relish in the fact that someone took the time to cut out their husband, yet, somehow couldn ’t manage to discard the photo of themself in a wedding dress? I’d find this ironic and write a little story about it. The story would be dry, or, tongue-in-cheek, yet “somewhat” close to the truth, because, as truth would have it, we’re not all th...

I've been meaning to post some of the images I found in Omaha during our last trip. This is a great albumin piece, about 6x10 mounted on board. I've been slowly amassing a new sub-collection of photographs of "people in front of their homes..." I think it's a great little window into how we use the camera, pose, and link our property with identity . I'll be writing and posting more about this later... but for now, just absorbing it.

This is a liver with NET mets removed for transplant. You think this liver looks bad? Well, mine is worse with a few more bigger ones. The much promised medical update is here… So you ask, what is going on? This is the short SHORT watered down version: Well, a few weeks after my visit with Dr. Shafir, I canceled my surgery at Mount. Sinai. After some consideration, I decided to seek further opinion from other surgeons. Something about the surgery in NYC didn’t sit well with me. It seemed like a wet band-aid that would just slip right off. I’d have to go through a serious surgery only to have a bunch of cancer still left in my liver (alive and dead crap floating around like space junk). Yes, at first, I was ready to rock and roll and thought the NYC surgery was the absolute best course. As it turns out, I’m still learning. And one thing I’ve learned along the way is that my disease is much worse than I let myself believe. My liver is a mess and it’s not going to get any better from a l...