In an essay for her 1977 series “On Photography,” Susan Sontag wrote that “photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing, which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art.”

Yet today, found or “vernacular” photographs are increasingly presented as art objects, a reverence reinforced by the steady transition from analog to digital technology. These visual time capsules attract us with their physical beauty and their captivating narratives, inspiring everything from print publications like Found Magazine to blogs like Look At Me. Even the most successful digital photo apps, like Instagram, mimic the authentic quality of vintage photographic prints, down to their faded colors and unexpected blemishes.