Found mug shots

The "found photograph" genre seems to be getting renewed interest these days, with two recent exhibits of Hans-Peter Feldmann's work here in NYC as good examples. The whole "flickr" phenomenon of photographs uploaded by different individuals and then browsed by tagged categories is perhaps the most modern expression, even if it's not deliberately a collection of "found" photographs.

Additionally, the beauty of found photography often comes from the age of the photos and the forced distance between ourselves, the anonymous photographers and the photos' subjects. Minor White is quoted as saying, "By photographs that found themselves do I mean the 'lucky or happy accident'? That is one name for it. 'Happy accident' is a name that I ought not to mention because many an extraordinary snapshot is passed off lightly with this appellation instead of being explained. I do mention it because it is a term of helplessness in the face of a photograph that is a freak, a sport in a man's work-unexplainable, so unsought for, so unaccountable that it is almost embarrassing."

Mirrors. Photographs from the Arkansas State Prison 1915-1937.