sad stuff street toronto

The land of the lost (a photo essay)

Inspired by my recent discovery of the blog Sad Stuff on the Street, I asked local photographer Scott Snider if he had any photos of lost or forsaken items relegated to Toronto streets, parks and/or front lawns. Lo and behold he did — and a lot of them. So the following is a collection of some of the more interesting ones that he agreed to share here. We both decided that it'd be a good idea to loosen the "sad" theme up a bit in order to include some more quirky stuff that should be worth a smile or two.

It's tough to explain exactly what makes photos of this type so oddly compelling, but if I had to venture a guess, it'd be because they hint at a narrative but don't deliver any details. You stumble across this thing on the street — which can be alternately funny, sad, or just plain odd — but it's impossible to know where it came from and how it got there. The compulsion to dream up a story is almost irresistible. As such, if you have any creative explanations for the scenes below, we'd love hear them in the comments section.

Poor Little Mitten

lost stuff toronto


Un-Clued

sad street stuff toronto


Freed Spirit

toronto street photography


Childhood's End

funny stuff on street toronto


Smile and the World Smiles With You

strange stuff toronto streets


Giraffe Intersection

toronto photos funny


Castaway

quirky photos toronto


Eastern Gerrard Sidewinder

lost items toronto


House and Garden Layout

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National Portrait Gallery

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Game Theory

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Multiverse Revealed

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E Is for Enigmatic

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Summer's End

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If you have photos of sad or quirky stuff you've found on the street, send them to the blogTO Flickr pool with the tag #streetstuff. And to see more of Scott Snider's curbside discoveries, check out the whole set here or watch the slideshow below.


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