One of my favorite websites was just updated after sitting dormant for several months.
Look At Me: A Collection of Found Photos includes over 600 snapshots of ordinary people. Dating from the early 20th century to the 1970s, they typically chronicle vacations, birthdays, anniversaries, and myriad other occasions. Although some have identifying marks like a date, place, or person's name, most reveal nothing specific. We're left to make up the story based solely on the picture itself. Many of the images are quite poignant and one is left wondering, why weren't these photographs saved? Why weren't they passed along to other family members? Were they discarded? Sold as part of an odd lot at an estate sale? Collectively they invite reflection, in part because they mirror the images in our own photo albums, reflecting those mundane (and sublime) events that span the decades. And we have to wonder, will our family photographs end up in a garage sale or flea market?
With digital photography and the seemingly tenuous nature of so many images, all bets are off since the crash of a hard drive or destruction of a CD can erase an entire photo archive. Still, many of us elect to print our digital photos and fill albums for posterity, with the idealistic expectation that our heirs will treat them with the measure of respect that we accord the fabric of our familial histories. Will our treasured images someday be consigned to a "found photos" website?
One of my favorite websites was just updated after sitting dormant for several months. Look At Me: A Collection of Found Photos includes over 600 snapshots of ordinary people. Dating from the early 20th century to the 1970s, they typically chronicle vacations, birthdays, anniversaries, and myriad other occasions. Although some have identifying marks like a date, place, or person's name, most reveal nothing specific. We're left to make up the story based solely on the picture itself. Many of the images are quite poignant and one is left wondering, why weren't these photographs saved? Why weren't they passed along to other family members? Were they discarded? Sold as part of an odd lot at an estate sale? Collectively they invite reflection, in part because they mirror the images in our own photo albums, reflecting those mundane (and sublime) events that span the decades. And we have to wonder, will our family photographs end up in a garage sale or flea market?
With digital photography and the seemingly tenuous nature of so many images, all bets are off since the crash of a hard drive or destruction of a CD can erase an entire photo archive. Still, many of us elect to print our digital photos and fill albums for posterity, with the idealistic expectation that our heirs will treat them with the measure of respect that we accord the fabric of our familial histories. Will our treasured images someday be consigned to a "found photos" website?
