What is a photograph? A memento of a moment long passed, kept as a reminder of a time and a place and people in them, happy, laughing, full of life. But just like everything else, photographs themselves aren't eternal, destroyed and deleted from a computer's memory unless their owners keep caring about them.

Some photographs simply get lost and misplaced, and occasionally they end up in hands of those who know nothing about people in them, anything about their lives beyond the frame being a total mystery. Purchased at thrift stores or simply found at people's homes and workplaces, these photographs offer a glance at past lives and stories that can be intriguing to a total stranger.

What kind of lives did these people lead? Are they still alive today? Maybe you'll recognize someone you know in these cool old photographs that some people lost and others found.