This book brings together more than 700 remarkable, surprising, and humorous snapshots from the world’s largest collection of private

photographs, including amateur images of Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin.

When George Eastman, founder of Kodak, introduced the first box camera in 1888 with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest,” photography became accessible to everyone. From that moment on, fleeting moments could be captured—both accidental and staged—and the snapshot was born.

Amateur photographs often depict ordinary situations. Yet once they are removed from their original biographical context, they lose their banality. At times, a particularly fortunate moment produces an image of unexpected aesthetic force, often unintentionally—through double exposures, tilted horizons, backlighting, or striking details.

The artist and former photographer Christian Skrein has examined thousands of photographs found in albums and shoeboxes, selecting and organizing them thematically. The resulting collection forms a visual archive that can be read as part of our shared visual culture. At its core are joy and pain, the human condition, revealed through snapshots originally intended only for private albums.