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‘tiny happy’ was a journal of my handmade life from 2006-2025.

not unloved

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I was having a browse on trade me (NZ's version of ebay) the other day when I came upon these stray black-and-white photos for sale. I don't know why, but I felt straight away that I had to buy them and so I did. Something about them seemed sad to me. It must be to do with the fact that family photos are usually treasured and kept safe, but somehow these ones lost their way and the people to look at them and say 'look, there's great-aunt Margaret when she was a baby.'

So I dug out an old photo album that wasn't being used and have pressed the pictures into it. And given them titles, as per the handwriting on the back of the photographs. The first one is called 'Stan and Margaret at the beach.' I love Stan's upright pose, so formal and responsible. The next photo was simply labelled 'At Whare Flat' which is a place in Dunedin. I like the expressions on their faces. And the last photo is for my friend who collects old dolls. It's of a small girl pushing a doll in a tiny pram. I think that was in the days before housepaint was affordable, and she's wearing a scratchy school uniform but she looks quite happy.

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28 responses to “not unloved”

  1. Margaret Oomen Avatar
    Margaret Oomen

    i think this is a wonderful idea to give old unloved photographs a new appreciated life

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  2. Denise | Chez Danisse Avatar
    Denise | Chez Danisse

    Such a beautiful gesture.

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  3. Cherie Avatar
    Cherie

    Old photos for sale are so sad – I once saw a whole old album (the kind with thick black pages)full of photos at an antique store that the woman said came from an estate sale. It’s so sad that no one in the family wanted to keep it or the person who died had no family to give it to. My Nana has an old photo album full of great black and white images of her and her sisters in the many dresses they made for things like the Carterton A&P show. Also, I love your blog – thanks for sharing all the lovely things you make!

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  4. Diana Avatar
    Diana

    That reminds me of a great book I saw. I can’t remember the title, but it was something like Other People’s Pictures or Other People’s Photographs and it was full of really neat old found photos–beyond the usual–just really interesting things going on.

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  5. Carol - SheCreates Avatar
    Carol – SheCreates

    I love the gracefully kind way that you have offered space, and honoured their existence. Lives lived, loved and witnessed have a resting place..

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  6. Jacilyn Avatar
    Jacilyn

    I think photos are a little slice of promised immortality. How wonderful that you rescued them and gave them a home. A place where these people can be remembered even if we did not know them.

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  7. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    This is lovely. I have quite a stash of abandoned photos at home too, photos that I have rescued from one place or another. I always wonder about the stories behind them…

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  8. Renna Avatar
    Renna

    I always read your blog, but seldom leave comments. I couldn’t let this one pass up, though. I think it’s so neat that you gave those old family photos (somebody’s family!) a home.
    I have a huge old, antique frame with a couple in it, probably from the early 1900’s. My brother saw it sitting at someone’s curb with their garbage one morning. He rang the bell and asked them if it was indeed their intention to throw it out. They assured him it was, and told him he could have it if he wanted, as it had just been in their house when they bought it. We’ll never know who the people in the picture were, or their story, so we just let our imaginations run wild whenever we look at it. 🙂

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  9. Kirsty Avatar
    Kirsty

    What a sweet thing to do. I saw a trademe auction a while ago for a family portrait that someone had rescued. It lived, if i recall correctly, on their mantel for quite some time and they named the people and they became like family to them. Then one day they were ready to pass on their adopted family to another person in need. I much prefer your way of honouring the past though 🙂

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  10. louana Avatar
    louana

    In my former career I worked in a photo lab and collected old cameras and photo related things. I often came across old photos and was sad to think that no one in the family wanted them, I love that you have put them so carefully in an album, makes me smile.

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  11. janet clare Avatar
    janet clare

    oh, I feel exactly the same way about old photos too! I always buy them, but sometimes there are too many and I have to choose which to rescue and then I awful for the ones I’ve left behind…
    my boys will probably just chuck them all in the bin the second I’m gone.

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  12. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    thanks for writing, renna! thats a great story. 🙂

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  13. holly c. Avatar
    holly c.

    That’s so sweet of you!

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  14. povertyjane Avatar
    povertyjane

    HA! I don’t know if you know this or not, because I have blogged about it, but for years now I have being doing this EXACT thing! I have framed some black and whites I have found One of my most treasured is a married couple just going into the car to drive away on their honeymoon. I call them the “Lost but not Forgotten” series, http://www.flickr.com/photos/povertyjane/sets/72157622417256795/. I haven’t uploaded all the photos I have, just a few, but I can relate to finding pictures from your area. I have a few pics from up here, in the ADKS, where certain homes still stand near main roads from 1930. I came across one such house that is still on the same road, but is currently a small town. In the photo, the house is all alone in the country side…so cool to see how things looked 80 years ago!

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  15. povertyjane Avatar
    povertyjane

    Somebodies got to remember!

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  16. Alison Gibbs Avatar
    Alison Gibbs

    How sweet
    When I find old photos I always wonder why they have been thrown out and what the family history is
    Alison

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  17. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    Oh wow… these photos are lovely on their own but you’ve turned them into a little novel for the viewer to read into him/herself by giving each one weight and setting. I love that!

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  18. linda dacey Avatar
    linda dacey

    Same wavelength, same sentiments, same day! Nice idea to turn them into a faux ancestor album… Perhaps take a peek at my post today and see my take on the same. Happy blogging Linda.

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  19. Blue Canary Avatar
    Blue Canary

    What a beautiful idea!

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  20. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    i know the feeling. glad you brought them back to a place of love and memories even if they are not your own family.

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  21. Tisha Avatar
    Tisha

    I love this! I’m glad you gave them a home to be loved.

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  22. Jessica - Domestic PDX Avatar
    Jessica – Domestic PDX

    A wonderful, creative gesture. I have saved many an unloved family photo and adore each one of my newly found friends. 🙂

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  23. Ella Avatar
    Ella

    Great minds indeed 🙂 I love what you’ve done with these and also that you managed to put into words what I felt but couldn’t say. I sat for ages trying to describe that sadness that accompanies discarded family snaps but in the end it wasn’t flowing so I left it out altogether.

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  24. elianne Avatar
    elianne

    i can’t stop thinking about this. What if?
    What if the people in the photos knew about this?
    what if you could find the stories behind them…
    great !

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  25. elianne Avatar
    elianne

    btw…I follow your blog for years now. Mine changed names..
    yours is still inspiring

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  26. Laura A. Avatar
    Laura A.

    Fabulous idea! I love this idea.

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  27. Jenn Avatar
    Jenn

    I used to go tramping with my Dad at Whare Flat, we still go whenever I’m back in Dunedin. That’s so cool!

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  28. Darla Avatar
    Darla

    Like what you did with the old photo’s. I have a whole box full of Mystery People that I have collected. I use old photo’s, or sometimes copies of old photo’s, in my art work.
    Darla

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