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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A woman who bought a secondhand camera was stunned to find a roll of film inside, but the real surprise came when she had the photos developed.
Photographs play an important role in preserving memories. Images can help people revisit and recall meaningful life events, relationships, and milestones.
In a 2023 study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, researchers concluded that photographs serve as powerful cues for autobiographical memory, helping individuals maintain a stronger connection to their personal histories.
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Given the power photos can possess, the sudden deletion or loss of a collection of images and the cherished memories they contain can be difficult.
That's where someone like Matt Tighe from Austin, Texas, steps in.
Since early 2024, he has been visiting thrift stores and documenting his efforts to return lost photos, matchbooks, postcards, and VHS tapes to their rightful owners.
"I've always been a thrift store explorer and was always captivated by the random photos I'd find," Tighe told Newsweek. "I always felt terrible about them being abandoned and would jokingly say I'd return them. One day, I decided to actually try to, and it worked."
Since then, he has returned 15 different sets of photos, two VHS tapes, and a couple of postcards, with his efforts documented in a series of videos posted to TikTok under the handle @batsh*tsh*tshow.
There have been plenty of highlights along the way, but one case from April stands out in Tighe's mind.
"I received a message from a follower in Berlin who found film in a thrifted camera and got it developed," Tighe said. "She asked if I could help find the people in the photos."
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Tighe set to work trying to determine when the photos were taken based on the clues at his disposal.
"The camera was bought off eBay from a camera collector in the U.K. and was a Canon IX240 film camera. I tried to date the photos using various clues, but couldn't find too much," he said.
"What I could find was that these photos had to have been taken after 1996, because that's when the Canon IX240 was released. This made sense because the photos looked like they were from the late 1990s or early 2000s. I then noticed a camera in one of the photos, which was a Canon PowerShot S50 that was released in 2003. I then knew these photos were from 2003 or 2004."
At that point, the trail went cold. So, having garnered a sizable following online, Tighe decided to turn to social media for help. He posted the pictures on TikTok and waited.
The clip went viral, amassing around 150,000 views. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.
"I started getting comments on my page from the women in the photos," Tighe said. "They told me they were so excited that I had found their photos."
Victoria Leeson is a psychotherapist and poet living in the North of England. However, up until around 15 years ago, she was working in the film and television industry.
"These pictures were taken around 2003 or 2004 at a city center restaurant in Leeds," she told Newsweek. "From memory this was an end of production celebration/wrap party for a Channel 4 series we had all been working on."
Leeson learned about the existence of the pictures online when an old co-worker got in touch. "I was directly contacted by my old colleague and friend, Caroline Baxter, who I had not heard of for 20 years or so," she said.
Seeing the photos again after such a long time, brought memories flooding back, both good and bad. "I felt very nostalgic seeing the pictures especially as I realized these pictures captured a time very shortly before my Dad had unexpectedly died of cancer," Leeson said.
"It felt like a glimpse into life ’before’ and also a career that I left behind many years ago. It was great to be reunited with familiar faces and see how much fun we were having in the pics. Life in my 20s felt like a much simpler time!"
Leeson believes the camera the pictures were taken on once belonged to her. She would love to have it back one day. In the meantime, Tighe has reunited the pictures with their rightful owners.
"All the women were so excited, and I sent them the Google Drive folder," he said. "The original person who reached out mailed the physical prints back to them as well."
Leeson, meanwhile, is hoping to catch up with Baxter and her other ex-colleagues soon.
"Caroline and I exchanged quite a few messages and I am hopeful that we will meet up in person in the future," she said.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Marc Vargas and James Debens
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