After discovering a set of vintage film transparencies, a U.S. photographer is on a mission to find the original photographer and mysterious subjects, and she's asking the Internet for help.
Meagan Abell posted nine different images of the transparencies to her Facebook account this week.
The images are undeniably beautiful: Two women, wearing 1950s-style dresses, wading into the surf of an unknown beach. In the photos, the women never directly face the camera, staring out instead at the horizon.
Abell said she bought the transparencies at a thrift shop in Richmond, Va., for three dollars a piece. She could tell that they were beautiful, but she wasn't able to see all of the details until she brought them home and blew them up, she said.
"I was ridiculously excited and already so in love with these pictures," she told CTVNews.ca by phone on Friday. "I could tell there was a story behind them and I wanted to know what it was."
Now, Abell has made an open plea for any tips on where the images were shot, and who the photographer and subjects might be. She is also asking that the photos be shared on social media using the hashtag #FindTheGirlsOnTheNegatives.
As of Friday morning, they had been shared more than 14,000 times on Facebook.
Some Facebook users offered tips, suggesting the photos were taken along the California coast.
Two users even sent Abell their own photos, so she could compare the landscapes. Based on their photos, she suspects the vintage images were taken at Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles.
She believes the photos are getting so much attention because the women are unknown.
"It's partly that (viewers) can feel like they can insert themselves into the photos, because you can never see their faces. It could be anybody," she said, adding that the nostalgic quality to the photos also adds to their popularity.
Abell herself is drawn to them because of the sense of longing they evoke.
"I feel like you can literally look at them and feel exactly how it would be to be in her situation – walking into the water, fully-clothed, not caring at all," the photographer said.
Abell asks that anyone with any information contact her via email at heyhihello@meaganabellphotography.com.
