One of the greatest disappointments I have with myself is with Birdies Dolls. It was in 2017 and I was still working for New York Life when I entered this little store off Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake. This was before I started my current project of finding little stores and abandoned places, and finding their stories. This was the “seed” of that journey.

I met with Birdie twice. Once to do an “interview” with her via my cell phone. That recording is below. Then I came back and photographed a Saturday workshop she held for people who had dolls and wanted to repair them, or create new ones. She was a very considerate and helpful as she interacted with her students.

In doing the interview she shared how, like so many businesses, the “art” of creating a doll was now something that was mass produced overseas. Less art, more dollars for distributors. I could “feel her pain” to quote from a former President, that this had happened, albeit in a slightly different fashion, to my profession of photography.

The store sits vacant now. Birdie has passed away. Soon it’ll probably be demolished to make way for some commercial enterprise, like a storage facility. I started this by saying that one of the greatest disappointments I have with myself is with Birdies Dolls. This was a story I should have told earlier. My sincere hope is that Birdie, in whatever heaven doll artists reside in, knows that I’ve finally told her story.

When I look at these dolls, I always think of something like a Twilight Zone episode where, when the shop is closed they all come to life. They’re that realistic.