I like affordable art. Everyone else does too. It seems like every week there’s a new outlet for wallet-friendly prints. But I’ve latched on to an even more novel idea lately: free Art. In fact, I’m pretty much psyched about anything that costs me zero dollars. Zero is a number this economy can handle.

It was with this in mind that I got in gear for my latest wall-decoration attempt, and harkened back to some familiar sources. Some time back I got extremely excited about the Library of Congress’ archive, where you can directly download high-res files, or order prints.

I wrote all about it here.

Then I recently was perusing Shorpy (which is pretty much a daily activity) and found myself with a crush on this picture:

—

Holy cow, I wanted to own that! Well– looks like Mr. Vachon shot for the FSA, so I figured the Library of Congress might have the negative.

First I searched for “john vachon” in the author field. No dice. Then, I search for “vaccination” in the subject line.

Huzzah! Score.

Whoa, this neg is yellllllow.

Photoshop time.

Ok, better.

Power up the trusty Epson R1900, and away we go.

VOILA! A picture on my wall*.  Extremely satisfying. Go here and search the Library’s offerings. I do not think you will regret it.

*and yes i know the print is a little dark, but ink cartridges don’t grow on trees.