elgyn part yes it's it's a very neutral
place there's no conflict there it's
colorless people who look at my
photographs will bring their own stories
they'll say oh this reminds me of the
house that I grew up in we were in a car
crash it looks something very similar to
that so it brings those stories out in
people
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there was a Popeye cartoon when olive
oil was walking on a building being
built and every time she was about to
step off a girder came that's my life my
resume looks like what's available in
the job force for a cabinetmaker mailman
got bit on the first day I said I'm
sorry I quit I was the art director for
a UH a national company and I fall on
the floor and I turn blue from that job
I went to become a bartender at a very
sketchy bar I got fired because I would
not wear hot pants and that's one of my
next job from that I said I'm gonna be a
long maker everything you do you will
learn from it and you'll use it later on
in life when I was a mailman it made me
aware of how streets are laid out how
towns grow my photographs read well
because there is a logic to it Alton
Park is not just my little fantasy I'm
documenting the 20th century in a way
I put my stuff out on the web for body
here and over a year I got around 1,000
hits but someone in England who worked
for car magazine sent me an email and
said can I show one or two of your
photographs you know just as though oh
isn't this interesting kind of thing the
day it hit the stands
it went from a thousand hits to a
million hits in you know cut within a
day and then it kept going and going and
going
I was delighted and I got emotional
about it and then it was the oh my god
what have I done kind of thing and then
people I'm I'm a Rekluse I mean I'm very
personable and I can you know go outside
and talk to people and but recognition
is tough for me it actually stems from
when I was young I was bullied in school
and I was bullied because I was
different
who I think I'm still dealing with that
still struggling with what that means
and all that I don't think about it a
lot but you know it does bubble up I
just realized I'm slightly I've come
into this reality at a slightly
different angle there was the whole
issue of being gay I mean from
kindergarten I absolutely knew from
kindergarten because there was what boy
came in I went I liked that person the
bullying got so bad that the teachers
let me leave class 15 minutes before the
bell rang because they knew how I
c-can't romped on
it's like one did people say you know I
want them to say we like you you know
you're interesting if anybody has been
depressed I mean you kind of know that
what that road feels like and then it
gets more and more narrow and narrower
and narrower darker and darker and then
for myself it got to the point where it
was a form of liberation because it's
like I can end this I tried to kill
myself number of times because for a lot
of reasons and each time it was it's
almost like my I got my messages from my
future self that said you're gonna get
through this and you're going to make a
difference in in your own little way in
in the world so I needed a place that I
felt comfortable in and also to be
incredibly creative to and I constructed
to Elgin Park which is a sort of a
dreamlike recreation of my past
Elgin Park is never a lonely place for
me it really is a fountain of creativity
because I never know what the next scene
is gonna be so it's always challenging
me and inspiring me I admit 40 years ago
recreational drugs definitely LSD of
choice I remember taking it for the
first time ago here we go
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I learned a very interesting lesson
while taking it is that I didn't have to
do the foreign lands to me perform
people and stuff like that I mean I went
in wordly and I was in territory that I
had absolutely no idea where it was
I created Elton Park so anybody can be
there in some ways it's mirrors it's a
miniaturization of real life when I'm
creating my scenes and all that because
this period took care of details and
making sure everything's in its place
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Elgin Park does have a darker side it's
not even or anything like that but some
of it is based on stories that I've
heard when I was little I'm finally
about the more gruesome parts but yeah
that's kind of you kind of need that
spookiness or whatever makes it
interesting I think the longest I've
taken for a project was four months and
that's the house they built the house
that I grew up in it was it was therapy
there were some questionable stuff
happening in my family back then we kids
were asked to go outside and play but I
knew that they had with a fascinating
story so I would hide and listen to the
adults talked I had some relatives that
were missing a father and after he was
dropping I found out why people were
murdered people were mutilated those are
pretty tough stories some of the stories
on for Elgin part are inspired by those
so there's hints in it yeah I won't go
down there's too much bad on the world I
don't need my elder part does not need
the bad you know and when I was a kid I
always wanted to change the world in
some way and I didn't know how to do it
and you know all these jobs I've had and
all that maybe this can make the world
better and better but then it come to
find out it's it's the thing that I like
to do the most would I put it out there
and it has changed so many people a lot
of people say why can't they'll write to
me and say I can't do photography and I
don't know I have a camera can I said
that's not that can you sing or you know
so we'll have conversations like that
what else can you do somebody found out
he wrote you know can write really well
and started publishing some stuff I'd
like to think that I have helped and it
has helped and and it is still helping
Elton perk now has atmosphere and
gravity I mean it is it's on its own so
if it ends for me I think it will
continue it has made an impact I must
feel like I'm finished I'll finishing up
the loose ends of my life I mean I don't
maybe I'll be here another 20 years I
don't know but you know if I if I passed
away tomorrow that's perfect there I
feel like I've done something my tag
line is the keys are in the car there's
a full tank of gas and the food is good
at the diner
you know that's Elgin Park I don't care
who you are
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