Comments on: Found Photos

Found Photos

thisisdrew — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:36:15 -0800

Man comments on Flickr photos he discarded in an alley dumpster 30 years ago. Vietnam 1967-1968: Darrell Hill, Photographer

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:58:24 -0800

Fantastic. These sorts of discoveries and reconnections are, well, so much of what makes the internet a great thing.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:02:04 -0800

[this is good]

By: jayder

jayder — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:11:00 -0800

I had boxes and boxes of slides, photos etc. I had all this stuff in storage for years and upon moving decided it was time to move on and get rid of it. I tossed all the slides and numbers of photos in a dumpster by the alley of our old business - Grantree & Hill Gallery and Framing in Siloam Springs. How strange, that he would throw stuff like that away.

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:20:47 -0800

Good photos, fantastic story. Great post, thisisdrew.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:21:54 -0800

Cool pictures & post, but I found this hilarious: "Please respect copyright." Just on reading that, I laughed. Then I realized that the guy with the flickr page wants us to respect his copyright while (I believe, not a copyright lawyer.) he blatantly violates the copyright of the photographer. Lulz. He should just go ahead and hack flickr to bring up a warning message if I right click. (If these were taken as part of the photographer's military duties, I think that actually makes the originals public domain, but the flickr guy didn't know of that possibility initially.)

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:39:51 -0800

I laughed. I think actually the idea is that, while he is now apparently publishing them with the (implied) consent of the original photographer, their presence of Flickr does not imply anyone else can use the pictures as they like. Though, yeah, if they're military, then it's moot.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:40:14 -0800

(their presence on Flickr, I meant)

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:45:16 -0800

When he first put them up he had no idea where they came from. So it's fine for him to use other people's pictures as he likes, just not for anyone else to do the same.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:05:27 -0800

Isn't the issue (I don't know, I'm asking) - that no one use the photos for profit (the guy who posted them isn't getting paid)? What a crazy story: So easily resolved is, I think, the interesting part. Thanks for the post.

By: Potsy

Potsy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:10:09 -0800

I just want to say that I love Kodachrome.

By: mxmiller

mxmiller — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:33:31 -0800

check out his other work at DarrellHillFineArt.com, DarrellHillArt.com and iPaintOutdoors.com.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:10:41 -0800

Perhaps the poster wishes for the pictures not to be used commercially, a worthy concern given the nature of the pics.

By: grubby

grubby — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:15:44 -0800

Funny how little vietnam has changed, visually, in 40 years. The only glaring difference is the lack of traffic; even skirts have only recently gotten that short again.

By: churl

churl — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:06:57 -0800

To me, the fact that the person who posted them on flickr went through non-trivial trouble to find the original photographer -- and received the photographer's implied consent to display them there -- makes the "please respect copyright" line apt and sincere, not hypocritical. He's talking about the photographer's copyright.

By: item

item — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:34:10 -0800

You're having brans for breakfast, aren't you? Beans piled high with sugar cubes that've partially broken, leaving a ridiculously heaping mini mountain of sugar until that one day some rich fatcat will decide it needs to be excavated. He, and his cronies, want to know what kind of beans are buried under that mountain of sugar. They want to excavate in a way so the mount can still be used a few years down the line once all the beans have been relocated. They're thinking that the whole lot of it can be turned into some kind of resort destination, with skiing, sledding, hot tubs, and last, not least, bean picking excavations for the kids. There's gonna still be buckets and barrels of beans down there by the time the resorts opens. Kids like digging, especially if they have an incentive such as a free videogame token for every 10 beans picked. The videogames in the basement arcade are a bit old, but they're sure as heck fun! Your little ones can use thei hard earned bean picking money to play Mr.Bean in Let's Dig Beans! There's a lot more in the work, but these drugs are really starting to make typing hard. Oh, and I've got some crappy movie about Studio 54 on and the characters keep leaving the television screen. I was scared at first, but I tell myself they're nothing but pixels clumped together inside the set then my anxieties wain a bit. OK, one skinny gentlemen in a flannel suit and matching overcoat just brushed behind me and this shouldn't have happened, as I'm all alone in my house. I didn't notice him in the movie... maybe he was an extra or an attorney and THAT'S why I didn't recognize him. He Didn't say anything, just looked past me on his way past my chair and continued on to the corner. I've lost sight of him. One other thing: on my desk there's a wooden clock, a couple of cheap computer speakers, and a remote control. while I was typing about the Man In The Gray Flannel, I noticed that the left speaker is communication with the clock. I can't make out what they're saying but I thin they're plotting against the remote control, a passive and friendly enough object. I just turned my head for a second and I am certain the clock & speaker moved/nudged the remote closer to where I'm seating. I'm gonna ditch this machine for a bit. I let you know if the weirdness persists outside this room.

By: dbarefoot

dbarefoot — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:19:50 -0800

That's remarkable.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:46:54 -0800

"I'm gonna ditch this machine for a bit. I let you know if the weirdness persists outside this room." ... now where have I heard that one before?

By: Atreides

Atreides — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:29:57 -0800

One would assume that since the original photographer threw the pictures away, he relinquished all ownership to the pictures. So the new owner, the finder, wasn't violating any law when he posted them or if made plans to publish them. I haven't had a chance to look in depth, but if the photographer kept the negatives or something, thats a whole other matter entirely.

By: chihiro

chihiro — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:00:45 -0800

These were terrific. Thank you!

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:13:45 -0800

I love this kind of thing about the internet. A minor version happened here just last week when I posted about a random exhibit of 1970s street photography, and mefite NickySkye turned out to have known people in the photos.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:15:26 -0800

For some reason, the vibe I get from this picture is that he's a miniature prisoner about to be executed. Maybe it's the yellow jumpsuit.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:00:05 -0800

How strange, that he would throw stuff like that away. My thoughts exactly - I can't imagine why anyone would discard something with such obvious historical (let alone artistic) value. Then again, if I'd served in Vietnam, I probably wouldn't care to be reminded of my time there. I wonder if rediscovering these photos has been painful for Mr. Hill . . . And so, I think I'll send him a tactful message. I'm genuinely curious.

By: ugf

ugf — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:40:19 -0800

O, very lovely. It's great that these were rescued and scanned - I wish I was that lucky, to find slides that are so beautiful. Then again, my pile of stuff that I want to scan for my flickr pool seems bottomless, so maybe it's better that I don't find anyone else's.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:59:39 -0800

My message to Darrel Hill was promptly answered! With his permission, I'm reproducing the exchange here: Mr. Hill, I suspect you're being inundated with email about your recently rediscovered photographs. They're astonishingly moving in their own right, but take on added weight given Memorial Day and the conflict in Iraq. I'm a member of an online community called Metafilter (http://www.metafilter.com). In a recent discussion thread, a question has come up more than once: what prompted you to dispose of the images in the first place? In your email to the Flickr poster you mentioned something about simply clearing up some space and getting rid of old things. Was it really that simple? I ask because I can't imagine anyone discarding photographs of such historical (let alone artistic) merit. Then again, I've never served in the military and certainly have no conception of what it was like to be in Vietnam in 1967. Did you want to be rid of the photos? Has their rediscovery brought back difficult memories? Forgive me for prying. I'm not a reporter of any kind, just an amateur photographer who admires your work. If you'd like to follow along with the MetaFilter discussion I mentioned, you can find it here: http://www.metafilter.com/66442/Found-Photos Yours, - Dave Dave - I guess more people are seeing my Vietnam photos than ever before. I was an artist in the Army and went out photographing every chance I had; it gave me an opportunity to get with the people and the land. I must say that I did some crazy things and ventured into some areas that were not that safe. However, it was an interesting time and piece of history. Craig is the second person to find my slides at an antique shop and looked me up. Both finders purchased at the Arkansas shop owned by the lady that climbed into the dumpster to get them plus other items. I dumped the slides years ago as we were closing our business there and simply did not want to keep boxes and boxes of stuff around. I had keep the photos for years, but felt they had served their purpose. Yes, they were/are good photos, and I was so excited to see them again. Seeing them on the Internet was a joy. Remember years ago we did not have Flickr or other Internet systems; if we had, I most like would have posted them. I under stand the "dumpster" lady has keep a lot of slides for herself. I have no regrets and feel happy that others can enjoy them. I have given the finder permission to use them with credit to my name. He may or may not do that, but at any rate it is good to see so many enjoying them. There are hundreds more, and I even had boxes of slides stolen in Vietnam when I was there. The ones stolen, were photos of blind Vietnamese musicians; those I would have keep. All the best, - Darrell Hill

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:01:46 -0800

Recently on facebook people have been putting up class photos from my school years. It is ridiculously interesting to me, particulary when I still have those class pictures stuffed away somewhere and have maybe seen them 2 or 3 times in the 30 years since they were taken. The big difference is that the pictures seem to magically attract the people who are in them. People I haven't spoken to or seen for decades. Old photos + internet is a weird kind of social magic.

By: chlorus

chlorus — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:12:53 -0800

My thoughts exactly - I can't imagine why anyone would discard something with such obvious historical (let alone artistic) value. The guy said he decided it was 'time to move on and get rid of it.' When he said he wanted to move on I don't think he was referring to the simple act of changing addresses. Shit, it's lucky he didn't throw the pictures in the dumpster and set it on fire.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:44:34 -0800

That he threw them out is not particularly surprising to me. My own father told me that he was very close at several occasions to just throwing out all his Vietnam-related memorabilia, including photos, his uniform, etc. Thankfully he did not, but I'm not surprised that someone else (with a lot more stuff, taking up a lot more space) would have.

By: terrortubby

terrortubby — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:12:15 -0800

The photos have become private - anyone have any idea why?

By: terrortubby

terrortubby — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:44:38 -0800

Answer to my question about the privacy here.