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When American tourist Tom Sponheim bought a stack of photo negatives for $3.50 in a flea market in Barcelona back in 2001, he probably wasn’t expecting to find the secret work of a master photographer hidden inside them. But that’s exactly what he found when he returned home and developed them, because as you can see below, the pictures he discovered are nothing short of stunning.

Keen to learn more about the mysterious person behind the lens, Sponheim set up a Facebook page in 2010. On it he hosted the images he’d developed and bought ads targeting photography enthusiasts in Barcelona. Despite the page’s popularity however, and despite various people identifying themselves or friends in the photographs, the identity of the photographer remained unknown until Begoña Fernández stumbled upon the page in 2017. Awed by the beauty of the pictures, she set upon a fervent quest to get to the bottom of the mystery.

First she managed to identify an elementary school in one of the photographs, and from there she learned about a photography contest in 1962 with similar shooting locations to those in the pictures. Her research eventually led her to the archives of an old photography association called the Agrupació Fotográfica de Catalunya, and there, after more digging, she eventually found a picture in a magazine that she recognised from Tom’s Facebook page. The image was credited to a Milagros Caturla, a woman who trained as a teacher but worked as an administrator. She was a keen photographer who won various local contests and even had a dark room in her apartment before her death in 2008. While she's sadly no longer alive, Fernández and Sponheim are determined to ensure her legacy lives on by introducing her work to a wider audience. Caturla’s photographs will appear at Barcelona’s Revela-T photography festival in May, and we hope it’s the first of many, because there’s no denying that her work deserves to be on the walls of galleries everywhere, and not on the tables of flea markets.

More info: Facebook (h/t)

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#2

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Burcu Erbakan
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

3 totally different aspects of similar girls, very nice catch at the right moment

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#3

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John L
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The ever elusive Freedom, alway on the other side of the gate.

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#5

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Tiana Vibhakar
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i really admire the subtlety of this picture. it makes you feel something though you can't really name what it is.

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#10

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John L
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Its nice to know that even when you stumble and fall, there is someone to help pick you up again.

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#23

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Diana CrunChewy Watson
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In a way, this piece speaks to how the young view the opinions of their elders. I don't know if that what this depicts literally, but that's of what I am reminded.

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John L
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Having lived in Germany in the mid-60s, I remember the family visiting Franco's Spain. Two things have continued to stick out in my mind about the place: the crazy nun's head pieces, and so many women wearing black. It was the most somber place we ever visited in Europe. Italy was just the opposite.

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#29

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DancingToMyself
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, the dancing shoes then... I would like this one on my wall!

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RustBunny
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think she looks like she's really tired, in the process of a hard eye roll or about to sneeze.

#36

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Teresa Hudson
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Doll would be worth a pretty penny today. Love her stylin' glasses!

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Ouzodaki
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks as something out of "Blood Wedding" (Bodas de sangre) by Federico García Lorca.

#44

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Ionela Zugravu
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That was a time when you had lived more in reality with your friends, than online.

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Ouzodaki
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's nothing that can cheer you up more than a Catholic procession. ;)

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#54

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Kira Leseman
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's I tersting to see how much men's "sculpted" bodies have changed over the years.

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