BORING POSTCARDS

Comment

Comment by Bruno Cassaglia on November 24, 2019 at 5:28pm

Sant'Ermete  (Vado Ligure)

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on November 24, 2019 at 5:04pm

 A FIRST SELECTION OF BORING PSOTCARDS....

A Boring French street

A Boring hotel reception area

A Boring picture of a Boring (and Bored) lady in her Boring kitchen

A Boring Postcard of a tunnel

A Boring holiday camp dormitory

A Boring Postcard of some Boring cactii

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on November 24, 2019 at 4:53pm

The Boringnes of Postcards fascinates me and I would like to share some ideas with the IUOMA community as well as this Group dedicated to Boring Postcards.

The 'Father' of Boring Postcards is Martin Parr. An internationally famous Magnum photographer, he published 3 books on Boring Postcards – one for the UK, a second for the USA, and a third for Germany – between 1999 and 2001. His publisher described them as being ”.. exactly what they say they are, namely boring picture postcards showing boring photographs of boring places, presumably for boring people to buy to send to their boring friends. (They) take us on a boring tour of (British/American/German) motorways, ring roads, traffic interchanges, bus stations, pedestrian precincts, factories, housing estates, airports, caravan sites, convalescent homes and shopping centres. Some attempt to idealize their subjects, only to fail dismally. Others lack any apparent purpose or interest, but the resultant collection of photographic images is wholly compelling.”

What makes a Postcard Boring? I have given considerable thought as to what makes a Postcard Boring – or not – and would like to share my ideas with you. When confronted with a Boring Postcard, I ask myself a number of questions. First, why did a photographer want to make a Postcard of this subject? Second, why did some printer and some seller think they could make money from this Boring Postcard? Third, why did anyone buy this Boring Postcard? Fourth, what message – visual or verbal – did the sender of the Boring Postcard mean to convey? And fifth, what on earth did the recipient of the Boring Postcard make of the image?

There are two additional considerations: First, a Postcard can be Boring because of what is in it – for example, a row of tents or beds, the interior of a tunnel, a piece of industrial equipment, an empty sports stadium, etc. Second,a Postcard can be Boring because of what is not in it – for example, a swimming pool with no swimmers in it, a street scene with no activity, a hotel or restaurant without any customers, etc.

Please contribute to the Boringness of Postcard, and share your Boring Postcards here.

 

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