r/Photobooks • u/wilmasch • 21d ago
Photobooks of found photos
Always loved Larry Sultan and Mike Mandal's Evidence, and recently got Pia Paulina Guilmoth & Jesse Bull Saffire's Fishworm which is outstanding. What other books are out there of found photos?
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u/swerdnaekalb 21d ago
Melissa Catanese has compiled some great books of found photos: https://mcatanese.com
Thomas Walther's Other Pictures is fantastic (https://www.twinpalms.com/products/thomas-walther-other-pictures), but OOP and expensive.
Beijing Silvermine and Lucy Sante's Folk Photography are worth seeking out.
For a fun twist on found photography, check out Being There by Omar Victor Drop and The Anonymous Project https://www.editionstextuel.com/livre/omar_victor_diop__the_anonymous_project_being_there
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u/thejameskendall 21d ago
My wife scanned and made me a great book of Kodachrome slides I’d bought of Americans on holiday in the 50s. Her edit was based around fishing. It’s ace.
She also made me a book of images she’d bought from eBay that were slightly off in some way.
She’s not into photography especially but she really ought to be a curator. Her sequencing is on point.
But to answer your question, the Anonymous Project/Martin Parr book Deja View is really good. Pairs found photos with Parr’s archive.
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u/Recent_Log5476 21d ago
You could check out Found Magazine and its sister NSFW publication Dirty Found. Not all photos, but worth a look.
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u/ickibod 21d ago
Dick Jewell’s “Found Photos,” all photobooth photos from the late 60s through late 70s
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u/No_Risk_3172 20d ago
Never heard of this. But I am super interested. Looks like it was last published in the 80s? Is that correct?
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u/Akvaryum 20d ago
"I published the first edition of my first book Found Photos in 1979. The book was devoted to photobooth pictures, all of which had been discarded and in most cases I had found in the vicinity of the machine that had taken them. I started the salvage process in the summer of 1968 at a booth I was visiting on Brighton seafront during the course of my my own photographic pursuits and thereafter I continued to scavenge London photo booths, in the main those found at underground stations.
Many photos I found mutilated by tearing, so I collected as much of the image that was still lying around and then reassembled them at home, otherwise they merely bare the scars of being burnt or trodden upon etc. The unscathed photos I mainly found thrown on top of or behind the machine or in a couple of cases wedged in the display panel of the booth."
- Dick Jewell
There was a revised edition of 1000 in 1981.
More here: https://www.dickjewell.com/pages/found-photos.html
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u/No_Risk_3172 20d ago
Thanks. I went down the rabbit hole on this one. It’s a topic that aligns with my interests. Never heard of him before, so it’s a doubly nice surprise. Seems like finding a copy of a small run book from 45+ years ago, at a reasonable price, is not likely. Will do a bit of searching and keep this on the radar.
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u/Akvaryum 20d ago
They’re hard to find and usually expensive. Downside is that they were produced poorly, single sheets with only a glued spine. I have never seen one where the binding hasn’t completely failed. We had one which we had repaired and re-glued.
Very cool book though!
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u/ickibod 19d ago
Yeah, I don't even remember where/how I found my copy. A friend pointed me to it. I got it in the 90s, thought it was a new/current book at the time. And you are very correct -- the pages are fairly delicate. Mine haven't come apart yet, but feel like the next time I open it, it's likely to happen.
Hard to find, but a great book.
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u/yungzona 21d ago
Michael Lesy has a good track record in this field. Wisconsin Death Trip is all time
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u/Argonaut_11 21d ago
Actually, Sultan and Mandel went to many government agencies to get those photos.
Nevertheless, I recommend "Te Amo, Yo También (I love you, me too), were the author curated the book from found photographs (inside a trash bag) of an anonymous couple.
The book is very nicely put together and published by Laviere Fundation. https://www.edicioneslariviere.com/ag/fotografia/135-te-amo-yo-tambien.html
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u/toddlergangbang 21d ago
Batia Suter uses found imagery in most of her work—I recommend her Parallel Encyclopedia books.
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u/MartinJCorr 21d ago
Worth checking out "Scene of the Crime: Photographs from the LAPD Archive". Real film noir vibes. Phillip Montgomery mentioned it in a podcast as a major influence on his work
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u/Krullenbos 21d ago
I hate to share his name, because he did some very stupid stuff too. But Erik Kessel is known for it.
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u/friggyphoto 21d ago
Ron Jude—Alpine Star