{"id":856162,"date":"2026-06-09T23:20:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/856162\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T23:20:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:20:31","slug":"collector-scours-flea-markets-for-vintage-photos-of-women-in-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/856162\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Scours Flea Markets for Vintage Photos of Women in Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss <\/p>\n

Wandering through a market in Frankfurt years ago, photo collector Jochen Raiss stumbled across a photo of a woman halfway up a tree.<\/p>\n

This curious photo sparked a fascination that turned into a much larger project. He began finding similar photos of women in trees, and would eventually release books of his finds titled Women in Trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been collecting historical amateur photographs for a long time, around 25 years. At the start, the photos were simply more like beautiful bookmarkers for me, certainly not a thematic series by a long shot,\u201d Raiss tells his publisher Hatje Cantz<\/a> in an interview. <\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to make something more out of them. In early 2014, I came up with the actually very logical idea of scanning the pictures I\u2019d found. Suddenly, I noticed details on the monitor that I hadn\u2019t been able to see with the naked eye. That was a very exciting experience for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss \"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss
\n \"Two\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss \"Two\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss <\/p>\n

On Instagram, Raiss uses the handle @imperfekt.photography<\/a>, which is apt since it is amateur photos that interest him the most. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe imperfect, the \u2018normal,\u2019 the everyday, the more \u2018real\u2019 life is what fascinates me. Pictures of people who have actually lived and are now no longer there,\u201d he told The Huffington Post back in 2016.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss \"Five\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss \"Three\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss
\n \"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss <\/p>\n

He finds many of his photos at a flea market in Hamburg, where estate sales are routinely held. \u201cThere\u2019s always a sad component to that, when you see that an entire household is being sold off,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n

But Raiss will go all over to other markets in Germany searching for specific photos. \u201cSome of the dealers already know me by sight, even. I talk to them about how I\u2019m publishing a book now, featuring the pictures I\u2019ve bought from them,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\"A\u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss <\/p>\n

\"Black <\/p>\n

Raiss says that he doesn\u2019t find as many photos of men in trees as he does of women. He puts that down to the fact that men were more likely to be behind the camera at the dawn of amateur photography. Women, therefore, would pose for the camera. <\/p>\n

Women in Trees is available from the Hatje Cantz website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> \u00a9 Estate Jochen Raiss<\/p>\n

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