Whose Fault Is That

Information filtration is so in right now; hyper-specific aggregation blogs help us get through absurd amounts of online content. While many will continue to slice and reslice the internet, others are taking the approach into that old, messy environment: the real world. One such other is Superbomba, an upstanding young collectress who scours the world’s dusty drawers for epic and anti-epic photography. When most photos on the internet are HDR tilt-shifted tech-nerdery, these are sweet, sad characters hand-picked by a witty author.

Whose Fault Is That: I’ll cut to the chase: where do these incredible photos come from?

Superbomba: Can I tell you instead about one of my favorite places to find photos? It’s this store that is so stuffed full of junk that only one customer can fit in there at a time. You open a drawer and it’ll be full of buttons or matchbooks or old bits of paper. There is even stuff hanging from the ceiling — if you look up there’s a small old rowboat, ice skates, Simpsons toys, airways bags, cameras. This old guy owns the shop and he just buys everything he finds, I think. The first time I met him he told me about how he has 6 storage garages full of stuff he couldn’t fit in the shop. The last time I saw him he told me that he’s now got 12 of them. I can’t even imagine what they contain — nothing he has is very well maintained but you can find incredible treasures there. He must be a secret millionaire or something because I can’t understand how he would make enough money to afford more than a loaf of bread and a few bottles of whiskey each day. He doesn’t care if you just want to sit there for a few hours and look through the hundreds of old photos, which are all jumbled together and usually pretty filthy. I’ve found so much amateur smut there, too. The only thing I don’t like about the place is that I’m always scared he’ll die on me.

WFIT: What do you look for in a photo?

SB: I like extremes. Really boring or really interesting. Full of nothing or really over the top. I like anything where a person looks sad or awkward or nuts. I like anything creepy but most stuff seems sinister to me when taken out of context. I love faces! I’ve so many photos of people with really odd features and messed up hair, like they were made of out spare parts or something. Anything excruciatingly mundane or banal. Ultimately I look for whatever entertains me or captures my imagination somehow.

WFIT: Have you ever had any strange responses to your photos?

SB: Not really. Some people get a bit hostile about them, like I’m trying to do something other than just have a bunch of photos I like. The best response was a comment left on Flickr by some guy who obviously thought I had uploaded a self portrait - “i like ur boobs its big and sexy”

WFIT: What do you do with your time besides post amazing photos on the internet?

SB: I like to look at photos of baby animals on the internet. I also like having disco parties in my lounge room, sleeping, anything involving rollerskates and hosing things. Oh, I have a job too, which takes up some of my time.

WFIT: If you were going to the moon for an extended stay and you could only bring three of your photos, which ones would they be?

SB: The one of the poodle looking at the poodle cake. The girl falling off the cliff. The kids with Scooby Doo. I think they would all suit the moon.

WFIT: What do you think about when you look at those photos?

SB: I could get so corny and philosophical about this but I’ll try to restrain myself.

The dog cake photo is kind of a cautionary tale for me. I mean, baking a cake in the likeness of my dog and then sharing the cake dog with the real dog is something I would consider. Seeing that idea in photo form kind of makes me remember to not get too mental.

The cliff girl is perfectly imperfect. I want every photo I take to look like that. So much is wrong but that all makes it right.

The Scooby Doo kids are just silly. It was taken in 1984, before I was even born, but I can remember being that age and how ace it would have been to be on a fake TV with Scooby and Shaggy. I think it would feel the same for me now, at 22. I hope so.

WFIT: If you could hang out with one person from your photos, who would it be?

SB: The little guy in this. He kills me. I love him.

WFIT: Lastly, and most importantly, do you like Super Bombad Racing for PlayStation 2?

SB: Oh whoa, that actually exists! And it’s about Star Wars?! I feel ripped off.

David Cole interviewed Superbomba in March of 2009. Please, please view her entire, ridiculously large collection online.