this is what happens to lost luggage??

so i came across this interesting website, where this guy buys permanently lost luggage from the airlines and then takes all the clothes out and photographs them. at first it seems almost like a public service he's doing... until you realize that none is looking for this stuff... it's all been written off as lost somewhere while i was coming back from my crazy weekend in miami and i'm moving on with my life.

probably the airlines had to pay the people for the stuff they had lost. so they're just happy that someone is taking the luggage off their hands and giving them a bit of cash.

and then i thought - i like this as a photographic endeavor... it's like cataloging butterflies or some other kind of animal. placing them out on a white surface and taking photos of everything in the same way in order to create these very ordered and structured images.

now i know that this might seem boring to most people, but the process of doing this seems like a bit of adventure to me (clearly it doesn't take much for me to get excited about something if taking photos of clothes in the exact same manner repeatedly gets me excited).

and finally the voyeurism of the whole process hit me. first it's just trying to understand who these people might have been and looking at what they brought on their trips.

but then you start asking yourself some funny questions... like why did this guy bring more pairs of underwear than socks... wouldn't you think that the number of underwear and socks should be the same? or maybe they were in another bag that didn't get lost.

and girl who brought this small black bag... what awesome trip was she on that she needed a slutty nurse outfit. maybe it was around halloween? or maybe it was just a normal wednesday for this person. her other clothes seem pretty normal - she even brought a raincoat hoodie. but she also brought a bikini - so hoping for sunny weather but prepared for rain? and most importantly where is the underwear... there doesn't seem to be any. maybe she goes commando - maybe the guy who took the photo thought it better to omit it from the image... who knows...

then i think about color patterns and outfits that these people probably wore like how the guy below has a good balance of colors in his bag, but the girl seems to be leaning towards the reds and yellows a bit more (maybe not surprisingly she had a red suitcase).

so clearly i have no life, but i think this is amusing and spent a good ten minutes wondering about these people's lives and another five minutes wondering what people would think if they saw the contents of my travel bag. still it was a great little distraction from my reading. i hope you enjoy it.

[via isthisyourlostluggage.com]