Photography of Everyday Life
March 2, 2010 9:35 PM   Subscribe

love-pictures "found and taken photographs that are experienced as much by the heart as by the head."
posted by tellurian (18 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
A lot of these are pretty great, but I find the presence of "© scott tolmie" beneath each found photograph troubling.
posted by Nothing... and like it at 9:54 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]


Neat. It reminds me of My Parents Were Awesome.

(previously)
posted by inkytea at 10:08 PM on March 2, 2010


gah: previously
posted by inkytea at 10:09 PM on March 2, 2010


I think it's appropriate that "Don't stop Believin" was playing on the Muzak machine at this hotel while I looked at these pictures.
posted by IvoShandor at 10:21 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]


These are wonderful. I blogged about a million of them. Thanks.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:09 PM on March 2, 2010


I love the concept of this, but what makes it fall flat for me is that there seems to be a lack of diversity. I want to see love-pictures across a range of styles, time, and place. Show me what love looks like through many different lenses, both literally and metaphorically. I want to see those possibilities. For now, all I got is 70's white-framed, fuzzy notions, indoors. And of course, my own warped notions.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:58 AM on March 3, 2010


I think you might be getting hung up on the site name but I would like to see that too iamkimiam. Your 'warped notions' are endearing and romantic.
posted by tellurian at 2:25 AM on March 3, 2010


i'm jealous
posted by infini at 2:49 AM on March 3, 2010


but I find the presence of "© scott tolmie" beneath each found photograph troubling.

So do I. It's obnoxious and misleading because finding old photos confers no copyright ownership to the finder. The copyrights in these photos are owned by the original photographers, and unless Scott Tolmie was the original photographer, or created an authorized derivative work by adding his own creative elements to the photos (often seen where old public domain B&W photos are later colored and the colorer claims a copyright) Tolmie's act of scanning these photos (which is itself technically copyright infringement) and slapping them into a minimalist white website does not rise to even the U.S. Copyright Office's minimal threshold of "originality" for the purposes of giving Tolmie any legal rights in these images.

That said, I love the pictures. Especially the proud fisherman and his prize.
posted by applemeat at 5:46 AM on March 3, 2010


Nice collection. I love found photos; there's something about seeing a world of strangers through strangers' eyes that I find deeply touching.

Try this great collection of more contemporary photos.
posted by MrVisible at 5:51 AM on March 3, 2010


I should mention that the site I linked to is very occasionally NSFW.
posted by MrVisible at 5:51 AM on March 3, 2010


It's obnoxious and misleading because finding old photos confers no copyright ownership to the finder.

That was my reaction, too. I always love found photographs, but there's no need to pretend ownership -- they are interesting precisely because ownership is ambiguous.
posted by Forktine at 6:07 AM on March 3, 2010


excellent collection!
posted by bonsai forest at 7:48 AM on March 3, 2010


Reminds me of this polaroid I found trapped in a frozen puddle. I couldn't tell through the ice if it was a male or female figure. When I exhumed it, I realized that the distortion was in the picture, not the ice. I still get shivers looking at that face.
posted by hermitosis at 9:26 AM on March 3, 2010


I enjoyed the photos, but the couple of clowns freaked me out. Instead of, "Awww, how cute!" I found myself feeling like I was in the middle of a horror film.
posted by misha at 9:49 AM on March 3, 2010


Why do my photos not look as good as these?
posted by 2nd_shift at 11:06 AM on March 3, 2010


Try this great collection of more contemporary photos.

Wow, I saw some interesting photos in that collection, MrVisible. Then I read about how those photos were collected. Apparently, those "found" photos weren't found in the physical, traditional sense of having first been lost or abandoned, but were nicked from the inadvertently shared files of music downloaders. That's a somewhat slimy definition of "found." One of the wistful, romantic things about real found photos is the subject's mystery, the wondering how and why the photos were discarded, and the subject's ultimate"resurrection" (in a sense) through our (a stranger's) appreciation. Looking at the barbecues and birthday parties of people who simply don't know how to organize their iTunes folders or set their preferences on Kazaa just doesn't feel the same.
posted by applemeat at 3:10 PM on March 3, 2010


Tolmie has an amazing ability to capture the fleeting spirit of humanity in a mundane moment. Just incredible. It's as if these pictures were actually taken years ago, by someone else.
posted by Xoebe at 4:40 PM on March 3, 2010


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