I’m a collector. Got that gene from my dad with baseball cards. Then as I got older, it was tapes and cds. And then from there, records, photobooks and photography.

I like finding deals on vernacular photography where the photo makes me feel something. This side of my visual pursuits started while making photos for a different project. My wife and I happened into a really out of the way antique store along the Black River in Central New York. I saw a box of interesting photos, cheap too, from the area I was photographing so I bought them.

That box made me wonder what else is out there. I’m not into it to find the next Vivian Maier. I just want to have a modest library of photos not made by me that bring me joy. As a test, I bought a few blind lots of random found photography. I sorted through them and pulled aside the ones that stopped me in my tracks. Through that, I realized what my favorite subject matters are and what formats of older photography I am drawn to.

I started writing about some of my favorites, making up stories or being a detective, trying to find as much information about the photo as possible. This is now my replacement instagram.

With this website, I am going to post what I would like to sell. The market for found photography is mostly ridiculous. So, my prices will be very fair compared to, well, a lot of websites. I will post on this website and just rely on word of mouth and cold e-mailing people.

As for my collection, I currently use top loaders to store my favorites. I’d thinking about putting some favorites a specific subject into a photo album so it is more fun to leaf through.

I’ll also post some of my fiction and essays about found / vernacular photography. I’m also drafting some e-mails to see if I can interview some of the nicer people who also collect found photography.

For more information, check out the Vernacular Social Club. That’s a pretty great starting point if you are new to this.

At the end of the day, this is really just for fun so I hope you keep that in mind if you keep on visiting.

I should really talk about the first image, right? Not sure how free form or serious I will be about every essay about the photo. When I first saw this photo, I immediately thought about how you find old Coke or Pepsi bottles in the woods while on hikes. You look down at it and realize it is probably a few decades old. Now you know how it got there. That brush (or is it thicket?) reminds me of my own childhood; I’d clear out a pathway and build an open air fort inside the thickest area. Sometimes, I wonder who the photographer was in these photos and in this one I picture the photographer with a brownie around their neck laughing as the shot was made. I zoomed in to the girl’s eyes and I see she is crossing her eyes, looking past her nose at the glass. I’d like to think it is spring in this photo. Like right about now, April 8th, but then for them.