Vernacular Photos, not made in America

June 14, 2009 8:05 PM

What websites are the European (any non-English speaking, actually) equivalents of Square America?

I really enjoy what is termed (I guess) vernacular photography, and would like to extend my browsing to non-Anglophone sites. Any suggestions?

posted by Chrischris to Society & Culture (1 answer total)

You could have a look a the collection of the German Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive):

"The Federal Archives keeps approx. 11 million still pictures, aerial photographs and posters from modern German history. First photographs date from the 1860ties. Most pictures show events and/or persons" - Bundesarchiv Picture Database.

This archive is unbelievably huge and poorly tagged (Wikimedia Commons is working on that, apparently). Bundesarchiv Subcollections which contain a lot of vernacular photography: Sammlung Beier (scroll down for pictures) and Fotoagentur ABC.

[I liked this picture of women proudly presenting pots made from unusual raw materials - because my family still has one of those somewhere in a basement closet!]

In case you want to do some general googling, the German term for vernacular pictures would be "Alltagsfotografie". Hope this helps!
posted by The Toad at 6:45 AM on June 15, 2009