Today’s post features a wonderful friend that I’ve known for 15 years…but never actually met in person.
Hillary Meyer was my very first internet friend. She lived in New Jersey and I lived in Louisiana. When we met, we had AOL email addresses and connected to the interwebs through a 14.4 dial-up modem. Technological prairie?
We also loved Guiding Light. Don’t judge. Al Gore had basically just invented the internet and it was effing slow. We had time to watch an entire soap opera when an email was being sent, so why not take advantage of it?
Hillary and I first met on an AOL message board about grief. We both went through suddenly losing our siblings in a car accident. Her older sister and my younger brother passed away a year or two prior to the time that we met. While there were groups and books for people who lost parents, kids, or spouses, there weren’t a lot of resources that addressed the stuff that we were going through. I feel extremely lucky to have found Hillary, and we were able to be there and help each other learn to live without people that we loved so dearly and missed so terribly.
Hillary has two beautiful daughters, Daisy and Ruby. When Ruby was 2 ½ years old, Hillary started taking photographs of the interesting arrangements that Ruby left her toys in after she was done playing with them. Here…let her tell the story.
You know that I love your photos in general. You have taken some amazing shots of Daisy and Ruby. Your photos of Ruby’s art installations are so clever and hilarious. How did this project get started? What made you decide to start documenting her play area and how long have you been doing it?
Flatterer!
I guess this project evolved over a period of time, before I even realized that I was about to build a collection. But the very first photograph was taken two years ago, just weeks before we moved into our first home.
My extremely clingy daughter was 2 ½ years old and was just starting to play by herself for a period of time. After her bedtime, I saw that dollhouse with all the dolls looking at the wall. I couldn’t help wonder what she was thinking during play. So, I snapped a picture and posted it to Facebook to laugh about it with friends and see what they thought.
It was months before I started taking pictures of her toys again, but when I did, something “clicked.” I imagined her creations on a larger scale as part of a major art installation, and she, a famous artist in major galleries. She obviously has a story to tell, all we have to do is listen.
What are your top three favorite photos of the collection and why?
Oh, for sure I’d pick Pooh and Po and seven minutes in heaven. It’s as if their faces were molded that way only for the purpose of hiding out under the stairs in her dollhouse.
I’d also have to choose the first one as a fave, since it was the beginning. I’m going to cheat for my 3rd pick and say any of the ones where the dolls are in compromising positions.
What are your thoughts about submitting these to a publishing company? I think they would make a fun book.
Do you have an “in” with any publishers? I’d love to pay for my daughters’ college education! Note to Hillary (and book publishers): I wish! I’ve got a ton of awesome book ideas, some that involve me moving to another country for a year.
I have some pretty ardent fans/friends/family that have been suggesting that I get a book deal. That’d be awesome! I’d like to build a following on my tumblr site to hopefully lead in that direction. Who knows who is trolling around?
I feel like there so many fun and interesting things going on with children’s photography these days, like the stuff that Jason Lee does with his daughters. Any other projects in the works?
I am in awe of some photographers and artists who have an innate vision. I believe I learned about Adele Enersen’s baby dream photography from your blog. What an amazing gift she (and others like her) has.
Beauty created from a blank canvas is something I dream of achieving. I tend to find beauty in things that already exist; people, design, and apparently toys! Inspiration is everywhere; I don’t know yet what new project will be born.
If we were to actually (finally!) meet in person, what kind of stuff would we do on our super fun Hillary and Melanie day?
Depends. Is our super fun Hillary and Melanie day sans children? Note to Hillary: Definitely.
We’d sip drinks at a café and share our innermost thoughts and confessions, and talk about movies and fonts. Oh yeah, what a delight that day that would be. A day of fonts. Sigh…
Hills, thank you so much for your time! Keep on posting these fun and funny photographs. xoxo
Friends, you can follow My Child’s Art Installations on Tumblr to see what Ruby comes up with next.
All images courtesy of Hillary Meyer. All rights reserved.