Found Photographs

I'm taking a break tonight from working on the archival restoration of old snapshots that chronicle the 40-year history of a small rural community in Virginia. Most are scratched and dusty, the colors have shifted in some of them, and a few are even covered in mold. Needless to say, I've got my work cut out for me. But I'm putting away the anti-static cloth and the isopropyl alcohol for the night, in order to showcase two others who are also dedicated to the cause.

1) Paco Gomez, a member of the Spanish photographer's collective NoPhoto, has a project called “The Modlins” that focuses on a family of American expatriates who relocated (on the advice of Henry Miller) to Madrid. Gomez found the photographs and other memorabilia in trash bags discarded outside what had once been the Modlins' apartment building, and his curiosity was sparked by this random discovery. The family’s unusual history is reconstructed through these vintage artifacts, which Gomez has preserved and restored, and augmented with meticulous research. He's also posted an interesting excerpt from an old home video on YouTube.

2) Found Magazine defies description, as do many of the found objects contained therein. Submit your own "find of the day" (photos, drawings, etc), and while you're at it, join their Flickr group (or one of the other similar groups that are also dedicated to celebrating random glimpses into other people's lives).