Found Friday

John Howell, an Indianapolis newsboy, makes $.75 some days. Begins at 6 a.m., Sundays. (Lives at 215 W. Michigan St.) (LOC)

I flagged this one a while ago but never got around to posting about it. The Library of Congress has a whole set of images called "Photographer in the Picture" where, obviously, the photographer can be seen in the photo. While looking through the set, it was amazing to me that many of these shots were thought of as just mistakes and not given another thought (one even has a hole punched through the center). Looking at these pictures today as historical artifacts, it seems to me that they are actually improved by the little mistakes in the shadows. I love seeing that little glimpse into the world of when this picture was taken, what it was like for the photographer.

Found Friday

Shake - Carli Davidson Photography

Needs no explanation.

via Man Made DIY

Found Friday

From flickr user zim2411

Yet another reason to get a Roomba: Roomba Art!

(Yes, this is a thing)

Found Friday

I just love these pictures. The idea that you could have the ability to take a memory from the past and bring it into the present, even if for just a fraction of a second, is a very powerful concept. I need to find some good examples to try myself!

"433-435 warren st hudson, ny"

by Flickr user fiveanddiamond

"Grandmother in front of her house 1972"

by Flickr user haunted snowfort

Found Friday

The thing I love most about found photos is the sense of mystery they stir up.  Some mysteries were quite literally stirred up with the release of a collection of mug shots from Sydney, Australia that were taken between 1910 and 1930.

NPR has a very interesting article about the collection of mug shots. The article brings about one very interesting point: It goes without saying that these are not like today's mug shots. For one, because unlike today's criminals, many of these people had never before been photographed. Posing for a portrait was kind of a big deal. Not only can these pictures be appreciated on an artistic level, but they are also just so intriguing, like something out of a movie. Very intriguing indeed!

Full NPR article here


The plot thickens! From the official record:

Mug shot of Hazel McGuinness, Central Police Station, Sydney, 26 July 1929

Special Photograph no. D32 (Drug Bureau photograph).

Hazel McGuinness was charged along with her mother Ada McGuiness with having cocaine (in substantial quantities) illegally in her possession. Police described a raid on the McGuinnesses' Darlinghurst house during which the mother Ada threw a hand bag containing packets of cocaine to her daughter, shouting, 'Run Hazel!'. Despite that, detectives spoke up for Hazel McGuinness in court, arguing that she had been led into crime by her mother ('the most evil woman in Sydney') who had raised her in 'an atmosphere of immorality and dope'. Hazel was given a suspended sentence.

Ada, Hazel's mother

This picture is one of a series of around 2500 "special photographs" taken by New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. These "special photographs" were mostly taken in the cells at the Central Police Station, Sydney and are, as curator Peter Doyle explains, of "men and women recently plucked from the street, often still animated by the dramas surrounding their apprehension". Doyle suggests that, compared with the subjects of prison mug shots, "the subjects of the Special Photographs seem to have been allowed - perhaps invited - to position and compose themselves for the camera as they liked. Their photographic identity thus seems constructed out of a potent alchemy of inborn disposition, personal history, learned habits and idiosyncrasies, chosen personal style (haircut, clothing, accessories) and physical characteristics."

Through the Viewfinder

On my quest to figure out the world of super 8 film, I stumbled across a photography technique called "Through the Viewfinder" or TtV.  In this method, the photographer basically takes a digital picture looking through the viewfinder of another camera. The end result gives the look and feel of an old style film camera, without the cost of film and with the immediacy of digital. It is a pretty intriguing process, albeit a bit silly looking on the part of the photographer. The flickr pool has some beautiful shots though, and the process seems simple enough. I do have my own TRL camera at home so maybe I will have to give it a try.