Why did I build a fake cottage in my basement?
to build a time portal and put some things to rest
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7c18da3-3da2-4659-a1ba-758b8d71e783_3300x2550.jpeg)
What is this book of mine about?
When our family cottage was sold, my sister and I were devastated. For the past 30 years we’ve been holding on to all the old cottage dishes, hammock, sign, bellows, woodbox….as though, if we held on to it, we could just put it all back together again somewhere else. But we haven’t been able to to do that, so the stash of objects remained in limbo. So what do we do with all this stuff? I’m a photographer, so naturally I thought to make a project out of it all. I tried and failed many times over. The results just never felt right, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. This was a collection of objects near and dear to my heart, so I thought it would be easy to make pictures of them. But however much I tried, the results were always uninspiring, sad and wrong.
It took me a while to understand what the problem was — I love to make pictures of people and things in their own environments. I thrive on that. Taking a subject completely out of context just doesn’t have the same meaning for me — it leaves out too much of the story I want to tell. What I really wanted for our cottage stuff was to see and photograph it back in its original surroundings. Just as if I was really there again, and just as I remember it. So that’s what I decided to do.
I bought some old cameras and 110 film like I had in the 1970’s, colour matched the old green paint, made some siding, pine panelling, mini deck, window frame, fake curtains, brought the forest floor inside…..collected all our stuff and started shooting. Here’s what that looked like:
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d1f87e-acfa-429a-95fb-e295849d0377_4032x2268.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F487ec5b3-a980-4aa2-9af6-30d4a1eff5ba_2268x4032.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F533cd626-6622-457d-ad84-1878edede332_4032x2268.jpeg)
My idea was to give you a sense of how I still see and think of these things in my head, and the place they had in our everyday lives. I’m really just trying to travel back in time with you to my cottage…through a portal I made in my basement.
The cottage has been gone for 25 years, so why make this now?
My Mom died just over a year ago, and I realize that for me, a big part of grieving her loss is sharing memories and stories with other people who have had similar experiences. When she died, we experienced an outpouring of love and affection from friends and family from all corners, and I could feel myself change for the better with every hug, message and story they shared. Before that, I don’t think I really understood how much the shared stories would help me.
My decision to make this book was motivated in part by a desire for that same kind of shared experience of loss. Many people have had a family cottage, lost it, or remember it just like I do. Hearing them recount their own memories while looking at my book has helped to fix something that’s been broken for a long time. I wanted to put the weight of this down somewhere, and where I put it is in this book.
(this next part is for the photo-curious)
ok, but can you still find film for that thing?
There were a few technical bits to figure out while making this book, putting this here for the benefit of anyone who might want to do something similar.
Old 110 Cameras
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1112e09-5dbb-4a1f-a71d-55dca3c568d1_2850x3948.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96473bdf-10b2-4f48-8eb3-c33831462117_6000x4000.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2ca941a-0044-445c-81c3-4a1ed1226bfa_4032x2268.jpeg)
110 Film + Scanning: go to Lomography
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf53fbbe-9f6c-49f2-9b9d-77bd3aa2c787_1500x2100.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F67d38764-b071-41da-b71d-ffccbf1e1a88_986x1183.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41e00115-0e26-4078-9fec-3c52ee6eb837_4032x2268.jpeg)