For full effect, please read the following in Bill Murray’s accent: Wally Koval is obsessed with Wes Anderson. His interest was first piqued after watching the American auteur’s directorial debut, Rushmore, but by the time he’d laid eyes on The Life Aquatic he was absolutely, positively hooked. One thing led to another, and soon the Brooklyn-based market director found himself lost in the deepest darkest depths of the internet, searching endlessly for another hit, something that would fill the diaramic-sized, Wes Anderson-shaped hole that had been burned into his soul. Then he discovered Subreddit, a covert operation where fellow Anderson addicts/illuminati would convene to talk about Wes Anderson-style locations they just randomly happened to stumble upon in real life. It’s a total case of life imitating art, or wait is it the other way around I can’t tell?
Anyway, it wasn’t long until Wally and his fiancé (a fellow addict) fell down the hashtag rabbit-hole. “We began uncovering a treasure trove of amazing photos whose symmetry, colour palette and composition shared an identifiable quality,” he says. Tasked with what to do with all this booty, Wally created an instagram account, a sacred space where generations of like-minded people could come and worship at the altar of Wes Anderson. When asked what the future holds for him, Wally answered with a line from, yep, you guessed it, one Mr. W. Anderson. “To pull a quote from the Darjeeling Limited: “We haven’t located us yet”. Which is to say, we have a number of ideas in the works and are in the process of figuring out our “true north”. I am loving the journey thus far, and want to continue to collaborate with our growing community to further cultivate and evolve AWA. I make it a point to answer every DM and every email (though it may take a bit longer at times) — I love their feedback and want it to continue to be a place where we can all share, escape and be inspired.”
We asked Wally to pick his top 5 posts, begrudgingly he complied.
Disclaimer: I love all my posts the same, and asking me to choose a few is very difficult — I don’t have children, but I would imagine this is how it would feel to choose a favourite. I chose these somewhat randomly and I hope you love them :).
Mörön Airport | Mörön, Mongolia | c. 1956
The Mörön Airport is a small, two-runway domestic airport in Mongolia. It’s facade, color palette, and signage are phenomenal, but when was the last time you saw a penny-farthing bicycle rack in front of an airport? I don’t think I would be very successful riding my 10-speed to JFK International, let alone trying to find a place to park it.
Private Residence | Saksun, Faroe Islands | c. ~1810
This is a private residence in the very small town of Saksun in the Faroe Islands, which are part of Denmark. The town actually only has 15 residents – and if you look at the whole population of the Faroe Islands there is a total of 49,000 residents and 70,000 sheep. I find it so interesting that the turf roofs were traditionally used to provide protection from the rain as well as thermal insulation. They have become a symbol for the region and are now utilized on newer homes throughout the islands as well.
Bus Stop | Aral, Kazakhstan | c. Unknown
This one has such an amazing story behind it. The photographer, Chris Herwig, took a long-distance bicycle ride from London to St. Petersburg, Russia and along the way discovered these out-of-this-world bus stop structures. After he did some digging he found out that each design and each transit structure is unique and shaped specifically by the community around it.
The Malmö Latin School dates back to the 1400s – although they have moved a couple times in their history, since the school was started they have had an uninterrupted continuance of educational activities – that is 600+ years of non-stop Latin! Above the entrance to the school, the text in Swedish reads: “Of the Lord’s fear is the beginning of wisdom”.
Woods | Mackinac Island, Michigan | c. 1905
The Woods is a restaurant on Mackinac Island in Michigan dating back to 1905. The restaurant is reached via horse-drawn carriage and is also home to the oldest operating Duckpin bowling lane in the United States – a variation of 10-pin bowling that originated back in the 1900s.
Little Pheasant Castle | Saxony, Germany | c. 1728
“The Little Pheasant Castle is the smallest royal castle in Saxony and a famous landmark of Germany sometimes referred to as “Paradise in a Nutshell”. The place was meant to breed pheasants to hunt for the royal table but it never did due to the Seven Years War. It is regarded as the last castle in Saxony preserved in the original style of the Dresden Rococo.