It all began at the Recycling Center in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Elaine Ashburn noticed people leaving large objects—like old streetlamps and antique velvet couches—outside the recycling bins. She was fascinated—to her they were beautiful objects that needed to be preserved. Since she couldn’t bring them home, she started taking pictures of everything she found: galoshes, angels, glass bottles, tattered tarot cards and dusty jewelry. She became fixated and went back week after week for more.