my father's archive

When I found a post about My Father's Archive on Rachel Hulin's blog I was initially attacted to the utter ridiculousness of the knight photos, which you can see below. They have a WTF timelessness. Upon further reading I realized that this project by Ryan Nicholson is not just a humorous blast from the past but succeeds on other levels, serving not only as an archive of images of yore (advertising, artistic, and Americana) but also a loving tribute to his photographer father (a passion they share).

In his own words:

I grew up in a photographer's house. My bedroom was located directly over a darkroom. My father Larry Nicholson has worked as a commercial photographer in Kansas City, Missouri since the 1950's.

His career as a photographer has spanned over five decades and has included everything from still photography to video production. As a full time photographer myself I created this blog to showcase and honor the work of my father which has impacted the way that I see the world.

That series of images was assigned to my dad by a local advertising agency called Valentine Radford (which I believe is now VML) for their client Old Security Insurance.

Circus Elephants are another favorite, as well as Arches National Park and Pepsi. I'm so blown away by Larry Nicholson's body of work, and equally so by his son's devotion.