Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Who is Elmo Tide?

I can't get an easy handle on Elmo Tide (link via John Gomez) and that's probably the way he wants it. He's part street shooter,


part Lucha Vavoom,


part subterranean,


and part social critic.


"Frank and Fellini go to the carnival." That's how NPR described the style, and it seems as good a description as any. It's a strange dark fantasy world, but I can't quite grasp it. What is he trying to express? What drives him? Who is this person sneaking around LaLa land at all hours with a camera?

The dilemma is that Elmo Tide is anonymous. He's posted twice on Flickr and left it at that. No contact info, no forwarding address, no name. Just 81 photos and a goofball pseudonym. Not much info but enough to go viral.

Intriguing. It's pretty hard nowadays to disappear completely. To mask all digital fingerprints and remain anonymous takes determination. It makes me wonder about him and his photos, and maybe that's by design. Maybe that's his schtick. In a world where billions of photos are made and posted daily, maybe there's something to be said for Elmo Tide's strategy, if he has one.

Ok, fine. Mystery can be a catalyst. But I want to get to the bottom of this. Does anyone out there know who the heck Elmo Tide is?

9 comments:

jacques philippe said...

Intriguing bread crumbs...

Link under "NPR described the style" is incorrect. <<feel free to edit that

Blake Andrews said...

Link fixed. Googling his name brings up that one and many more.

Unknown said...

And yet nothing...

g said...

What difference does it make who he is? The pictures are good.

MikePeters said...

All I can say is that he seems to live an unusually interesting life, if the places he visits are any indication. My bet is that he's not married. Or, then, maybe he's a she? I love mysteries. And, I love interesting photos even more, and these photos are that, and a whole lot more.

christian said...

Perhaps the name is an anagram. I favor Id Omelet as a possible real name for the photographer.

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=elmo+tide&t=1000&a=n

Phill said...

I'm with Mike. Intruiging place he lives or visits. Some of them seem almost film set like.

Anonymous said...

Elmo tide is not a person. It's an idea fo the perfect photographer. No fame, no money, just basic enjoyment for the world to see. Stop trying to "get to the bottom of it" and learn from it.

Lee said...

He's posted another set of photos recently (Feb 10 2016).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28079824@N03/archives/date-posted/2016/02/10/