Old Haunt

Uniqlo shirt
H&M shorts
Zara sandals (similar)
Chanel handbag
Celine sunglasses
Linjer rings (c/o) (similar)
Location: Vancouver Art Gallery – Vancouver, BC

The term old haunt is an unusual one…

In English, the idiom ‘old haunt’ refers to a place frequently visited in the past. This expression, which resists literal translation, conjures the image of the ghost. Ghosts of the living and dead alike, of both individual and collective spirits haunt places.

…but in some scenarios, it just fits. The Vancouver Art Gallery was among the places I visited most often when we lived in the city. It was, without a doubt, the scene of the vast majority of the outfit snapshots we took when we called the capital of British Columbia home. These steps aren’t quite home for me, but they’re so familiar that I know them almost by heart. And I come back to them every time we return to Vancouver, like a ghost of my past self, briefly haunting a place where I used to spend so much time.

In the beginning, it was just about the look of the steps. They’re elegant, imposing and neutral, which makes them the perfect backdrop to highlight almost anything, including a beautiful outfit. When we moved downtown, they were also close to home. We could easily run out to snap photos during my lunch break, if we needed to, and I’d still have time to eat a yogurt cup before getting back to work.

But when you spend enough time in a place, even if most of that time is spent taking photos, it becomes more than that. You develop a connection to it through memories, especially happy ones. We leave little pieces of ourselves in places where we’re happy, which draws us back to them again and again. That’s what makes us haunt them – the desire to relive those good memories, if only for a little while. So there’s a little bit of me on these steps that I’m chasing after in these snapshots, a little bit of the past that I want to temporarily recapture. The ghost of a girl that I was, albeit briefly, is still here, and I like to see her occasionally, to remind myself of just how far I’ve come since those days.

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