Friday's Found - A Home

Today marks the beginning of a new feature on this little photography blog - Friday's Found (err, you know, that's the working title anyway.) Each Friday I'll share a found photograph with you, in hopes of further celebrating how photography can enrich our lives.

Whenever I visit thrift stores or antique shops, I really enjoy looking through bins and boxes of photographs and paper ephemera. Found photographs have an air of mystery about them, and whether they incite laughter, admiration, or a gentle heartache, they spark a sense of curiosity and wonder that makes me feel in-the-moment alive and part of a common humanity. And I like that.



I discovered today's Found photograph in an antiques shop in Northern California while on a daytrip with family (a daytrip that brought me this, this, and this.) At the time, Josh and I were several months into our new vagabond life -- a transitional period that would last one-and-a-half years. Who knew...

Though I enjoyed staying with family and friends (and hope to never forget the warm beds and generosity they provided us) some days I secretly wanted to press fast-forward and arrive at a day when we would share a home of our own once again. As I stood in the antiques shop looking at photos of families, and homes, and families in homes, my heart did ache just a bit.

Josh and I had just sold a home that we built together, and I quietly feared that we would never have an opportunity like that again. And then...I found this photograph. The heartache turned to feelings of excitement mixed with a romantic notion of just starting out, together -- the kind of feelings that suddenly turn a life's adventure into a life's grande adventure... Why not put the fears aside and go forth faithfully, capably and confidently? Like a friendly voice that says go ahead, go on, give it a try or a hand that gently waves you on, this photograph offered me reassurance.

I don't know anything about the people in this photograph, but it appears to document a markedly joyful moment in their lives together. The couple might have been much like me and Josh, at least that's what I like to imagine. I see the "For Sale" sign and I think of two people finding a perfect spot to build their lives. And if they really were anything like us, they would find themselves covered in sawdust and paint so many times that when they actually lived their days in this home, they couldn't help but to occasionally see past the walls and ornament, and recall the supportive structure they had formed together.

As it turns out, more than one year after that memorable moment in the antiques shop, Josh and I will be moving into a home of our own this very weekend -- and we are as thrilled as that couple standing under the For Sale sign. I look forward to sharing pictures, and telling you more about our new home soon.

I love that in this photograph, the sun was at a spot to prominately cast the photographer's shadow. Josh and I have had loved ones with us every step of the way, and our picture would not be complete without them, either.

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend...

(P.s. It's somewhat bittersweet to share my excitement about our new home on this particular day, while so many people in Japan have suffered such sudden destruction and loss. I wish everyone love, warmth, and shelter, and can't help but to think that, although we often expect it to, shelter as a basic need does not always come easy. It seems that on each day we have been provided with it we are blessed, and I hope to always remember to remember this.)