Photography Collector Peter J. Cohen has amassed one of the largest and most significant collections of snapshot vernacular photographs in the world today. Presently over 60,000 photographs, Peter regularly donates photos from his collection to some of the world’s largest and most venerable museums.
These anonymous photographs are organized into 130 different and distinct categories.
Melissa Catanese has sequenced, edited and arranged a selection of Peter’s photographs for her book Dive Dark Dream Slow, a book that uses these anonymous vernacular photographs to project her themes of violence and tenderness, innocence and experience — anticipation, fear and desire.
It’s an interesting interpretation in the growing genre of vernacular photography.
Peter is not on Flickr at present but his assistant does post some of his images to his Instagram stream. At present his collection is almost entirely in physical form and has not been digitized.
You can learn more about this book by Melissa here and more about Peter and his collection here. Additionally here is a podcast interview that Peter did with B&H Photography recently that I also found interesting in learning more about him and his collection.
Tags: Dive Dark Dream Slow Melissa Catanese Peter J. Cohen Thomas Hawk Library book vernacular vernacular photography fav10 fav25 fav50