For more than a decade I have been collecting photos that were originally created as snapshots but that have complex compositions and other formal qualities that make them much more sophisticated—and often far more surreal—than they were intended to be.

I have combed through literally tens or hundreds of thousands of pictures at junk shops, flea markets, antique stores, and other places where these images have strayed to from their original homes and meanings.

Looking at them, I am reminded of the quote from the great Depression-era writer, Jack Conroy: “We prefer a crude vigor to a polished banality.”