Some of the Web's best sites consist of variations on one simple idea. In the case of Dear Photograph, that idea is taking a snapshot — usually one featuring one or more people and dating from the film-photography era — and holding it up against the original setting so that past and present blend into a new work of art. The images contributed by the site's readers are wonderfully evocative. Looking at the family photos of strangers was never so transfixing.

-TIME Magazine

Dear Photograph, My daughter unknowingly dances amongst my childhood footprints at my grandmothers house in Saint-Pol de Leon. Even though twenty-seven years has passed from my time of play, it’s wonderful that my grandmother, now ninety-three, still keeps a watchful eye on both us… Jean -Marie

Dear Photograph,
My daughter unknowingly dances amongst my childhood footprints at my grandmothers house in Saint-Pol de Leon. Even though twenty-seven years has passed from my time of play, it’s wonderful that my grandmother, now ninety-three, still keeps a watchful eye on both us…
Jean -Marie

Dear Photograph, This was our school choir sixty years ago. The age of innocence…before rock, punk, rap and heavy metal. Michael

Dear Photograph,
This was our school choir sixty years ago. The age of innocence…before rock, punk, rap and heavy metal.
Michael

Dear Photograph, Every time the snow falls, I can still see my nine year old son, Joshua, spending the whole day building the perfect snow fort. Now he’s a freshman in college and I’m trying to perfect the art of adjusting to the empty nest. Amy

Dear Photograph,
Every time the snow falls, I can still see my nine year old son, Joshua, spending the whole day building the perfect snow fort. Now he’s a freshman in college and I’m trying to perfect the art of adjusting to the empty nest.
Amy

Dear Photograph,The wagging of your tail, barking and adding your two cents during dinner conversations, playing hide ‘n seek throughout the house…all of the sounds of loving you are gone as you left us only a few days ago. The hallways are now quiet, our walks are more lonely and there are leftovers we can’t share. Thank you for keeping mom company when she was alone, for sitting in the center of our card games and for giving our neighbors never ending grief. I’m so grateful you weren’t alone when you passed and though that memory is so painful, I know that you were showered every other day with an obscene amount of affection. May you forever be at peace just like you were when you laid under my desk and in our home. Memories of you….we will cherish. We’ll always miss you and the echoes of your love throughout our home.Ravi

Dear Photograph,
The wagging of your tail, barking and adding your two cents during dinner conversations, playing hide ‘n seek throughout the house…all of the sounds of loving you are gone as you left us only a few days ago. The hallways are now quiet, our walks are more lonely and there are leftovers we can’t share. Thank you for keeping mom company when she was alone, for sitting in the center of our card games and for giving our neighbors never ending grief. I’m so grateful you weren’t alone when you passed and though that memory is so painful, I know that you were showered every other day with an obscene amount of affection. May you forever be at peace just like you were when you laid under my desk and in our home. Memories of you….we will cherish. We’ll always miss you and the echoes of your love throughout our home.
Ravi

Dear Photograph, Just like Tigger, I loved those “I’m so happy i feel like bouncing “kind of days . But even if I could go back in time would I really want to  do it all again…Linda

Dear Photograph,
Just like Tigger, I loved those “I’m so happy i feel like bouncing “kind of days . But even if I could go back in time would I really want to  do it all again…
Linda

Dear Photograph,In the blink of an eye, the trees in my home country Russia have grown to such great heights and my brother is now an adult. Everything does and has changed, sadly my grandmother is no longer in the picture…Zhenia

Dear Photograph,
In the blink of an eye, the trees in my home country Russia have grown to such great heights and my brother is now an adult. Everything does and has changed, sadly my grandmother is no longer in the picture…
Zhenia

Dear Photograph, She was so alive, so present, and now approaching fifty years later, she remains my model for the enthusiasm that living life deserves. Love, Chuck

Dear Photograph,
She was so alive, so present, and now approaching fifty years later, she remains my model for the enthusiasm that living life deserves.
Love, Chuck

Dear Photograph, Thirty-five years later and the sun still shines down warming the steps and hearts of this memory. Susan

Dear Photograph,
Thirty-five years later and the sun still shines down warming the steps and hearts of this memory.
Susan

Dear Photograph, After twenty-four years it’s funny what you recall about your vacations. I was thirteen and the coat I was wearing I remember so well because it was my best friend’s and was a favourite of mine.  It might be a simple memory  but it still brings a smile to my face reminding me of what a great summer that was as her family and I headed to Sunshine Coast. I’m so glad they took me along.Christine

Dear Photograph,
After twenty-four years it’s funny what you recall about your vacations. I was thirteen and the coat I was wearing I remember so well because it was my best friend’s and was a favourite of mine.  It might be a simple memory  but it still brings a smile to my face reminding me of what a great summer that was as her family and I headed to Sunshine Coast. I’m so glad they took me along.
Christine

Dear Photograph, This Valentine’s Day, just like every other day, I know my dear Dad is here at his favourite beach where I grew up. This is his final resting place and I know he is forever and always by my Mum’s side…together again.Bridgette
Dear Photograph,
This Valentine’s Day, just like every other day, I know my dear Dad is here at his favourite beach where I grew up. This is his final resting place and I know he is forever and always by my Mum’s side…together again.

Bridgette

Dear Photograph, I wish my cousins and I could follow that yellow brick road once again, leading us all the way back to those carefree days of yesterday…would it be as we remember it? Bryan

Dear Photograph,
I wish my cousins and I could follow that yellow brick road once again, leading us all the way back to those carefree days of yesterday…would it be as we remember it?
Bryan

Dear Photograph, So much has happened in this home where I have lived all nineteen years of my life. As I leave for University this coming year, I realize so much has happened within these walls. Although each of us have changed and grown up a lot  since this photograph was taken, the house itself has quietly remained the same. When things between our parents deteriorated, each of us became more detached and isolated dealing with our emotions separately. Since the walls can’t talk, we slowly began to get back in touch with one another and start communicating with each other once more. Now our home is happy and safe once again. We don’t talk about our past, but I feel like those memories are somehow immortalized into the walls that held us up for so long. A photograph, a simple representation of our shared experiences….the things that are better left unsaid. Alix 

Dear Photograph,
So much has happened in this home where I have lived all nineteen years of my life. As I leave for University this coming year, I realize so much has happened within these walls. Although each of us have changed and grown up a lot  since this photograph was taken, the house itself has quietly remained the same. When things between our parents deteriorated, each of us became more detached and isolated dealing with our emotions separately. Since the walls can’t talk, we slowly began to get back in touch with one another and start communicating with each other once more. Now our home is happy and safe once again. We don’t talk about our past, but I feel like those memories are somehow immortalized into the walls that held us up for so long. A photograph, a simple representation of our shared experiences….the things that are better left unsaid.
Alix 

Dear Photograph, My father and his brother stood there full of smiles in 1982 on the day he married my mother. Unfortunately, a lot has changed since then…love included. Bethan

Dear Photograph,
My father and his brother stood there full of smiles in 1982 on the day he married my mother. Unfortunately, a lot has changed since then…love included.
Bethan