Expert Advice: The Found’s Albert Tanquero on found photos

Thanks to The Found owner Albert Tanquero for contributing this piece. In addition to dealing in vintage photos on Ebay and at shows, Albert uses the images to create greeting cards, paperweights, trays and a variety of other interesting products. I met Albert at the Chicago Antique Market in May and have continued to be impressed with his work (he’s also become a good friend). In this scary economic time, vintage photos make an inexpensive gift and can be used in a variety of ways. Most importantly they remind us of those who came before us, what they endured and how ultimately life continues. Thanks Albert.

And if you’d like to write about a specfic topic, please e-mail me – strangeclosets@yahoo.com. If nothing else it will shut me up for at least one post.

As I sit here trying to write a piece on the meaning of “collecting vernacular photos” I can’t help but stare at the thousands of photos and slides that sit in boxes around my apartment. They are scattered, not so neatly, in every room. They are remnants other people’s lives. I guess this is the first time I try to consciously write about why I collect photos. I’m not a new collector- I’ve been collecting for – forever really. I remember collecting WWF magazines when I was a teenager, before that it was Garbage Pale Kids cards, and before that it was G.I. Joe figures. But my most serious obsession has been “found” photos.

About three years ago I started to go to flea markets looking for decorative oddities. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular I was just intrigued by the way things from the past were designed and produced. Little did I know that soon, not only would I be collecting photos but also selling them. This summer I did just that at The Chicago Antique Market- laying out my mug shots, snapshots, and photo albums. Most people that came by thought it was odd to have a box of old photos – photos that other people didn’t want. Not even their families some noted. Many passers-by commented on just how sad it must be to die and have your photos end up in a box, and worse, at a market for strangers to dig through. I didn’t bother to correct them –they just didn’t understand that collecting and preserving found photos is about connecting and preserving the past. They are also inspiring as many vernacular photos are used by artists (Andy Warhol did mug shot paintings in the 1960’s), graphic designers, decorators and strange birds like me.

Continued . . .

For me collecting photos is about salvaging a capsule – not just another persons past but potentially my own. When I look at an image of a young man during the war, I realize that I could have been him. I too could’ve had that experience. It’s an instant connection with a stranger. For instance, when I see a slide from someone’s trip to Turkey in the 1940’s, I am instantly transformed there. It’s hard to explain. As I turn the pages of a photo album that belonged to a family from the south how can I not begin to imagine their lives? I know it’s a romantic notion but so what?

I collect photos because they are divine- the most perfect marriage between technology and humanity. They are documentation of a moment that is forever in the past. These snapshots of celebrations, awkward moments, love, beauty, the mundane are really each a piece of history. Some are more interesting than others, no doubt. But it’s that connection with history that stimulates me. In an age where everything is digital, arrives with an expiration date, I look at my old photos, the ones that made their way to me and I treasure and respect them. The people in the photos (I assume) lived their lives the way we all live our lives- yearning for joy, love, excitement and meaning. Above all, we want meaning. And so, I often find just that it in my collection of “found” photos.

You can find amazing vernacular photos on Square America, Bighappyfunhouse, and my own flikr stream- http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefound/ . If you’re interested in starting your own collection of found photos start by going to local antique shops, flea markets, eBay, estate sales and garage sale, but be careful it can become compulsive.