NY Times Mystery Album

The photo above is from the article Love and Black Lives, in Pictures Found on a Brooklyn Street in The Times. The photos are wonderful, but they only tell part of the story. Annie Correal did the detective work to uncover the rest of it. Spend the five or ten minutes it takes to read and enjoy these pictures.

These pictures are from a time long before most of us started carrying cameras everywhere. Photographing something meant you not only had to get the camera out, but you also had to get the film developed and printed. Many of these photos just show everyday life, but one has to wonder, what made these moments special enough to record? Was some far-away family visiting? Was it a special occasion? Sometimes, we’ll never know because the moment has been long forgotten, or the people who would know are gone. I’m glad they took these photographs, and I’m glad they fell into the hands of someone who was curious enough to follow the story.

It’s a bit sad to think that our digital past won’t be so easy for someone to stumble across. When we go, the electronic record fades quickly. If we’re not alive to click on the ads, our everyday images are of little use to the companies that currently keep and display them. Perhaps it’s worthwhile to print a few of the pictures that depict our everyday moments once in a while.

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