My Twitter account is littered with my photographic obsessions - the beech tree outside my house, the Humber Bridge, phone boxes (in fact all street furniture), roller shutter doors with random cars parked in front of them, the Home Ales building in Nottingham, ornate door knockers, the list goes on. Some of this flotsam and jetsam will eventually find its way onto my blog, some of it doesn't. One of my side hustles is photographing random launderettes and laundromats. I've even enrolled others into send me launderette pictures from where they live or when they tell me they're going on holiday. It's like the old I-Spy books we all had as kids. Riggsby has sent me scores and scores of them from California and the Swede has sent me quite a few from deepest Norfolk and the East End of London - his home and his spiritual home respectively. Thank you, again, both.
And now we have a new kid on the block. My good friend Matthew and his wife Samantha are currently on the high seas cruising around Africa and recently disembarked in Cape Town. Fair play to Matthew, he could, indeed should, have been been soaking up Table Mountain, Cape Point and Robben Island, but instead was tracking down laundromats! Thank you, Matthew. You will be mentioned in despatches.
As a regular visitor to Cape Town myself I recognise the top one. It's just round the corner from Other Records and the Mount Nelson hotel
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ernie. When we hook up in Newcastle in the Summer, I'd be fascinated to learn about your Africa connections.
DeleteAnd as I said in my piece, these laundromat photos together with our Monthly Photo Challenge are just an extension of playing I-Spy as kids. Plus, like Riggsby, you can bring a bit of international glamour to the table. (Matthew demonstrates this quite ably - a laundromat in sunny Cape Town looks far more aesthetically pleasing than a coin op launderette in a wet and windy Wigan. With apologies to any Wigan readers.)
We only have one laundromat in town (there must be a high % of homes with washing machines) but I promise to take a shot of it one of these day to add to your collection.
ReplyDeleteI like the soapy bubbles on the window in the top one.
Alyson
DeleteI'm poised to receive, Alyson. Whenever you're ready.
DeleteI was bitterly disappointed last year, to find that a noted old school launderette in Brooklyn had disappeared in the 13 years since my previous visit to the Borough. A photo of that place was going to be the pièce de résistance of my New York submissions to the Medd archive. Rest assured, my eyes are always peeled for further examples.
ReplyDeleteCheers, TS. Shaw Taylor didn't photograph laundromats, but if he did...
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