This photo of me and my sister Masha was taken by my father, Eugene Kolomatsky, on Pidgeon Meadow Road, in Flushing, Queens, back during the Madmen years. It was our childhood kitchen, in the house where I lived for over 20 years. It was tiny. These are probably the home’s original cabinets; they seem so […]
My grandfather Sol (top right, in the snazzy pinstripes) left Lithuania in the 1920s, but couldn’t emigrate to the US because of the Jewish quota. So he went to the next best place: Cuba. He lived in Havana for five years, working in restaurants and learning Ladino. According to family lore he had a chance […]
My Great Grandfather Bill Clark was an avid gardener, as was his wife Myrtle who took this photo in July, 1969. My great grandparents’ garden was different every year. That’s the thing I remember most and recognize in the images of the garden that great grandad shot on Kodachrome (1960-1976). Always tidy, always weeded. Some […]
They are the men who shape our lives — past, present and future. They are our patriarchs. In honor of Father’s Day, we’re celebrating patriarchs all week! And we want to see the patriarchs in your lives and hear how they inspire you. We’ve teamed up with @instantlyframed, so one lucky follower will win a […]
My great-grandmother Bergny Evelyn posing for the camera, circa 1907. I love her sassy attitude. She is holding her most prized possession: her doll Cora, a gift from an aunt who had emigrated to America. We still have the doll. I have always loved this photo; it looks like she’s ready to take on the […]
“When a person looks at a photograph you’ve taken, they will always think of themselves, their own life experience. They will relate your photograph to their memories. That interplay is where a picture comes alive and grows into something. They function like invitations.” –Jason Fulford My dad as a baby, with my grandmother. I am […]
“To collect photographs is to collect the world.” – Susan Sontag In this incredible photograph, my great-grandmother Madeleine and her sisters Therese and Martine sit in an early airplane with their friends in France. It was 1908 and airplanes were making their public debut. People partied and celebrated worldwide. On May 14, 1908, Wilbur and […]
My great-grandfather on Venice Beach, California circa 1930. He was alive for only a short time after I was born. I vaguely remember visiting his home, on an orange grove, when I was an infant. When I was born, our family had five generations living at once. It’s very, very rare. There was a photo […]
It’s been a year since her passing, and I still miss her every day. My grandmother, affectionately known as Munya (the woman getting her leg signed in this photo), was the most marvelous woman in the world. She had a presence that never went unnoticed and will never be forgotten. Though not the typical grandmother, […]
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