Suzanne Wilson
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Eve Lazarus
Suzanne Wilson spent 10 years shooting photographs of North Vancouver houses either about to be torn down or in the throes of construction. Her project “Demolition and Construction” consists of 4,500 black and white photos and is available at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives.
She finished up Demolition Mama at the end of 2010 and started her second blog Churches on Sunday in January 2011. Her photos of North Vancouver churches are also in the Archives permanent collection.
I asked Suzanne about her blogs:
I was looking for a way to celebrate the last year of my 10 year volunteer photography project for the North Vancouver Archives when I saw the movie "Julie and Julia". A daily blog just like Julie published was the answer.
Suzanne Wilson 2009
My 10 year project was titled "Demolition and Construction" and it was photographs of just that. Over the 10 years I took approximately 4500 black and white photographs of homes to be demolished and buildings being constructed. In my basement darkroom I prepared contact sheets for each roll of film. The contact sheets, negatives, and a record sheet for each roll are on file at the North Vancouver Archives.
I designed the blog to run every day of 2010 and be a tribute to the families who lived in the houses demolished, that made these houses their home and contributed to the community life of North Vancouver. I named the blog, "Demolition Mama". Monday through Friday featured demolished North Vancouver homes; photos, architectural descriptions, and histories researched at the North Vancouver Archives. On Saturday I added a Travel Feature and on Sunday a Church Feature. These were a way of sharing other collections of my personal photography.
1640 Dempsey Rd., 1938 to 2010
During the 2010 Demolition Mama blog I published histories of 255 homes on my blog. Since I was out of town from 1 to 3 weeks each month the automatic publishing feature of Blogspot was essential. Having all these blogs ready to be published before I left town was demanding. I figure for ever day I was in town I spent 4.5 hours working on the blog. This challenge also brought its reward.
"Demolition Mama" received hits from all over the world: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, Russia, all across Canada and the US. Comments included those from the car salesman in Egypt and the student in India. The most important and rewarding comments and e mails came from families who had lived in the North Vancouver homes featured in blog. The information they shared was then included in the blog. That is the strength of the blog, it can be changed at any time, even after it is published.
It is still being changed. It seems the blog hangs around in cyber space indefinitely. Even though Dec. 31, 2010 marked the end of publishing "Demolition Mama" families are still accessing it and sending me thank yous for getting them in contact with other family members and adding their own bit of history to the blog.
2011 has brought a new blog "Churches On Sundays". I have always attended church and photographed churches where ever I traveled since the year 2000. I have also photographed all the churches of North Vancouver for the permanent collection at the North Vancouver Archives. Some of these were part of the Sunday Church Feature in the "Demolition Mama" 2010 blog. Starting in 2011 my new blog "Churches On Sundays" will be published each and every and only on Sundays. Churches as a place of beauty and inspiration are in every community. The blog is a tribute to the congregations that built and maintain these churches.
http://www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com/
http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/
Posted in Researching your home's history
Tagged Churches on Sundays, Demolition and Construction, Demolition Mama, North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Suzanne Wilson
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Posted on February 8, 2011 by Eve Lazarus
Suzanne Wilson spent 10 years shooting photographs of North Vancouver houses either about to be torn down or in the throes of construction. Her project “Demolition and Construction” consists of 4,500 black and white photos and is available at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives.
She finished up Demolition Mama at the end of 2010 and started her second blog Churches on Sunday in January 2011. Her photos of North Vancouver churches are also in the Archives permanent collection.
I asked Suzanne about her blogs:
I was looking for a way to celebrate the last year of my 10 year volunteer photography project for the North Vancouver Archives when I saw the movie "Julie and Julia". A daily blog just like Julie published was the answer.
My 10 year project was titled "Demolition and Construction" and it was photographs of just that. Over the 10 years I took approximately 4500 black and white photographs of homes to be demolished and buildings being constructed. In my basement darkroom I prepared contact sheets for each roll of film. The contact sheets, negatives, and a record sheet for each roll are on file at the North Vancouver Archives.
I designed the blog to run every day of 2010 and be a tribute to the families who lived in the houses demolished, that made these houses their home and contributed to the community life of North Vancouver. I named the blog, "Demolition Mama". Monday through Friday featured demolished North Vancouver homes; photos, architectural descriptions, and histories researched at the North Vancouver Archives. On Saturday I added a Travel Feature and on Sunday a Church Feature. These were a way of sharing other collections of my personal photography.
During the 2010 Demolition Mama blog I published histories of 255 homes on my blog. Since I was out of town from 1 to 3 weeks each month the automatic publishing feature of Blogspot was essential. Having all these blogs ready to be published before I left town was demanding. I figure for ever day I was in town I spent 4.5 hours working on the blog. This challenge also brought its reward.
"Demolition Mama" received hits from all over the world: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, Russia, all across Canada and the US. Comments included those from the car salesman in Egypt and the student in India. The most important and rewarding comments and e mails came from families who had lived in the North Vancouver homes featured in blog. The information they shared was then included in the blog. That is the strength of the blog, it can be changed at any time, even after it is published.
It is still being changed. It seems the blog hangs around in cyber space indefinitely. Even though Dec. 31, 2010 marked the end of publishing "Demolition Mama" families are still accessing it and sending me thank yous for getting them in contact with other family members and adding their own bit of history to the blog.
1879 St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Port Gambel, Washington
2011 has brought a new blog "Churches On Sundays". I have always attended church and photographed churches where ever I traveled since the year 2000. I have also photographed all the churches of North Vancouver for the permanent collection at the North Vancouver Archives. Some of these were part of the Sunday Church Feature in the "Demolition Mama" 2010 blog. Starting in 2011 my new blog "Churches On Sundays" will be published each and every and only on Sundays. Churches as a place of beauty and inspiration are in every community. The blog is a tribute to the congregations that built and maintain these churches.
http://www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com/
http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/
Posted in Researching your home's history
Tagged Churches on Sundays, Demolition and Construction, Demolition Mama, North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Suzanne Wilson
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