Barry's Beat: The Hunt for the Perfect Image

At Found Image Press, we like to say we're professional time travelers, minus the paradoxes (mostly). For 30 years now, we've been digging through flea markets, estate sales, and dusty shoeboxes in search of images that make you laugh, gasp, or feel a little something in your chest. But what actually happens before a stray postcard or forgotten photograph earns a spot in our treasury of over 60,000 images?  

We sat down with Barry Bell, co-founder and a person with an eye for the visually irresistible, to discover how our collection comes together, one wonderful and wacky image at a time. 

Where do you actually find these images? Are you still sourcing new images? 

We pull from a little bit everywhere: swap meets, antique stores, and paper ephemera dealers and shows. For years, that treasure hunt was my job. I would spend weekends elbow-deep in bins at antique fairs. These days, my daughter Aurelia, our Artistic Visionary, has taken over the search, sourcing images both online and in antique shops. The hunt never really stops. It just changes hands. 

Times have changed, too, and so have our sensibilities. Some images that once seemed quaintly charming now may seem like outdated stereotypes. For instance, depictions that are deemed sexist or racist today were acceptable back in the days when they were made. We're mindful of that as we source and curate, and it's a topic important enough that we'll be dedicating a future post to how we decide whether or not to share images that may touch one of these categories. 

What makes you say "yes" to an image? 

It comes down to a short but strict checklist. First, the artwork must be visually appealing, whether that means beautiful, wacky, intriguing, or funny. Second, it needs historical significance or a strong sense of its era, whether that's a place, building, animal, person, activity, or a flash of humor from the Victorian age, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, or the 1940s through the '70s. Third, it has to be old enough to be in the public domain, or obscure enough that trademark issues aren't a concern. And finally, the original postcard or paper needs to be in good enough shape that it requires minimal retouching, with no major tears, missing corners, smudges, or abrasions. If it checks all four boxes, then the image earns its place in the collection. 

What image did you really want but couldn't get for any reason? 

There's always the one that got away. We pass on original paper ephemera that's simply too expensive, unless it's truly amazing, in which case all bets are off. It's a balancing act between restraint and temptation, and every so often, temptation wins. 

What does the retouching process look like? 

Once an image passes muster, it gets scanned at high resolution, even though many originals were printed a little crudely to begin with. From there, scratches and imperfections are carefully removed, with one important exception: quirks that are inherent to the original piece, like being slightly out of register, stay put. The goal is never to make an image look brand new. It's to preserve the character, the look and feel of the original vintage piece. 

 When will your collection be "complete"? 

Never. We're still searching for new images regularly, though we'll admit the pace has slowed a bit. Sixty thousand images are a lot to stay on top of. In the meantime, we keep the existing collection alive and evolving by repurposing images into occasion and holiday cards, giving them a humorous twist, and turning them into stickers. And stay tuned. In the very near future, we’ll be adding a new, very personalized twist to some of our images. We are excited by how our archive keeps growing and reinventing itself.

 2026 marks our 30th year in the vintage paper gift business, and conversations like this one with Barry remind us why we started in the first place. We have a genuine love for the strange, the beautiful, and the perfectly imperfect image. All these years later, we're still elbow-deep in shoeboxes and still saying "yes" to the images that deserve a second life. Here's to the next 30 years of digging up the past and finding new ways to share it with you.