Ghost Signs

The Old Cigarette Ad. Ft. Collins, Colorado, 2013

Also called “fading ads” or “brick ads” these painted propaganda pieces on the sides of buildings in many a downtown area were ubiquitious in the 1920s through 1950s. They are disappearing rapidly but some are still visible if you look closely. Many local towns are now trying hard to save them before they disappear or are painted over. They can make for interesting texture studies or even a major photography project–and you are recording a bit of history to boot.

For more on this interesting “wall art”, see the Wiki link HERE.

Since the color of the paint in these ads was originally quite bright and spectactular, you might want to make color images as opposed to monochrome (as above). I wanted to emphasize texture–thus my choice of black and white–but you might actually prefer the color version:

The color version