Ernst L. Wehausen
Photography
Postcards from our life.
Having a wonderful time, glad you are here.
The project is a series of photographic postcards chronicling people, places, activities and the world I have seen and photographed for almost 40 years. Each image is a slice of my life to be shown and shared in the form of a small personal postcard print. The image may be a portrait, a snapshot, a place, a thing or an event. It may have been taken 30 years ago or yesterday.
Regardless of the subject, it is something that caught my eye and through my postcards I am now sharing with everyone. I even print a few images that other people have taken. The purpose of the postcards is to remind my friends that our lives are intertwined with and influenced by those we know and love. We are all in this life together, we might as well enjoy it as a group rather than wander alone.
I started my postcard mailings as the direct result of my best friend, Jim Kura, becoming ill with cancer. I and all of his friends spent the last year of his life trying to deal with his death and our relationship with him and all our mutual friends. Sharing images of him and our friends is a means of reminding everyone of just how important he was to us. But it also is reminding us of the importance of ongoing relationships and how they provide mutual support through the painful parts of life. None of us is truly alone as long as we have friends. Searching through my negatives, photographing my friends and printing images of our lives is also helping me deal with his death. I get to travel through the past and the present and relive the time we spent together and the many adventures we’ve had.
I did not have a set schedule or series of images to print. I reviewed proof sheets for images that caught my attention and tried to get a card out within a few weeks of when I shot the film. I also pulled out filed negatives looking for images. It’s whatever catches my attention. Printing on postcards allowed me to quickly distribute as many prints to as many people as I wanted. There was no waiting for a party or trying to do a series of big prints for a show. It is almost instant sharing of the moment and a part of my personal vision of the world.
One value of the postcard is that the small size pulls the viewer into the image and forces him to look closely at the details. Another benefit of the format is the ease of hanging or saving. Some place them on the refrigerator, others pin them on the bulletin board, some place them in albums and one woman framed each one and covered her dining room wall with postcards. Another friend keeps all the cards in a large bowl where she can look at them anytime and share them with other friends.
The project started with a mailing list of six. It has varied in size over the course of the years. Currently, there are 36 people on the mailing list.
For a brief period I was doing a card a week. Now I only do one every few months or when the mood hits me. I'm posting the cards to my site to share with a larer audience. I hope you enjoy them.
Contact
Postcard Gallery:
Postcards Book 6 -- Under Construction
