A small brown paper packet the size of my hand on top of a dusty bookshelf.

This is how I found this selection of images you see here. Found in a house at the bend of the road on a lakeside. There was an estate sale sign out front. I bartered for the package with a few bills from my wallet.

With great care, I individually cleaned, scanned, and restored each black and white film slide from the pile. Many were in such poor condition that extensive photo software and editing were necessary in order to get an image out of them. Still, some I couldn’t restore at all.

There are no dates to these photos, no names to faces, and almost no location markers to the scenes you see here. Although we don’t know much of the details behind these images, there is still a story here.

A woman, likely the photographer’s partner, is a frequent subject.

Images of buying a new house. Scenes of family. A pet dog.

There are also the haunting images of the exposures in the poorest of conditions or have parts lost to time. A wailing baby. Harsh shadows and dark figures. Men dressed ready to leave for war.

And something very human about it all.