Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past [Paperback]

Ransom Riggs (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 16, 2012

With the candid quirkiness of Awkward Family Photos and the confessional intimacy of PostSecret, Ransom Riggs's Talking Pictures is a haunting collection of antique found photographs—with evocative inscriptions that bring these lost personal moments to life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Each image in Talking Pictures reveals a singular, frozen moment in a person’s life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow. Yet the book’s unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their 40-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph’s particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I'm absolutely fascinated ... there's just enough written [on the photos] to make each image more powerful, and leave you wanting to know more." - Boingboing.net

From the Back Cover

With the candid quirkiness of Awkward Family Photos and the confessional intimacy of PostSecret, Ransom Riggs's Talking Pictures is a haunting collection of antique found photographs—with evocative inscriptions that bring these lost personal moments to life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Each image in Talking Pictures reveals a singular, frozen moment in a person's life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow. Yet the book's unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their 40-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph's particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: It Books; Original edition (October 16, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062099493
• ISBN-13: 978-0062099495
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > History

More About the Author

Ransom Riggs grew up in Florida, where he spent his formative years making silly movies with his friends in their various backyards, snorkeling, and complaining about the heat. He studied English at Kenyon College and film at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles. He makes films you can watch on his YouTube page: www.youtube.com/ransriggs. He enjoys traveling to exotic lands and complaining about the heat. He would like to thank you for reading this short biography.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#94 in Books > Teens

#94 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very moving and interesting October 16, 2012

By Starz

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was very pleased with this book. Though I have never 'collected' other peoples discarded photos, most of the photos in the book bore a striking resemblence to the old family albums my parents have kept over the years, many with captions as curious and quaint, sassy and self-deprecating. I'm always taken aback when I consider these were real people with lives and hopes and dreams, and we are given the priviledge of sometimes knowing what the years brought to them, after the photos were taken. It brings mortality home to appreciate how many came before us, stars in their eyes at what their future held, and the years unfolded and time did what time will do. I was especially moved by the grouping of photos of the young girl who died at the age of 10. Somewhere there's a whole story about why someone would choose to dispose of such a touching reminder of the short life of a girl so obviously well loved.

Also, the photo of Dorothy at the beginning, who died of leukemia, reminded me of a picture my mother has of her dear cousin who died of leukemia at age 17 back in the late 1940s. She, too, was so beautiful and seemingly full of life. Thank you, Mr. Riggs, for sharing your treasure trove with us.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Choice For Anyone Interested In Found Photos October 23, 2012

By D. Bass

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

From cover to cover, this book is filled with fascinating images that are thought provoking and capture the reader's imagination. The author wisely lets the images and their messages do the "talking" and the reader is left to do the interpretation which is the point of the book. As a collector of such images and similar books in this field, I was not disappointed with the "interestingess" of photos included, the arrangement by theme, and the large number of images included. This is the kind of book that you can pick up again and again and discover something new. Destined to become a classic within the field of found/vernacular photography, this book is a keeper and a must have. In short, this book works and works well.

The quality of the reproductions and the printing is very good and for the price it's a real bargain. I purchased additional copies to give as gifts.

A sequel to "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" this book is not (another fascinating book by the way), it was not intended to be. Nor is it an overly wordy or scholarly work on found/vernacular photography, which is a good thing in my opinion. As previously mentioned, the author expertly presents the material and the reader is left to explore the context of each image paired with its message. The images within the book stand on their own and do so superbly. I highly recommend this book, it's a real gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars `Narrative Tomfoolery' - Visiting the Privacy of Strangers October 23, 2012

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Now that the various electronic gismos are in wide use, from children who are just learning to read to the elderly from the age when privacy was sacred, there are few moments that remain private: everything is available by Google or Facebook or Twitter or any of the other means of instantly sharing photographic images of people, couples, families or minor indiscretions! So if everything that is currently happening is public information, what about those mementoes form the past that have been settled in an old shoebox awaiting discovery by inquisitive eyes exploring the past?

Ransom Riggs has found a way to bring the past up to date with this charming and entertaining book of photographs that happen to have annotations attached. He apparently combed through almost a half million photos fathered form friends, collectors, thrift shops, and old bookstores and settled on the ones from which he could create stories or at least connect the unapparent dotted lines between disparate images that contain a thee or thread of connection.

What has resulted is a scrapbook format grouped into `chapters' such as `Life during Wartime'. What makes it all work so well is Riggs inherent good nature - and his skill honed in achieving a master's degree in film production. The result is a book of peaks into the memories of each of us - and it is a delight! Grady Harp, October 12