Collector Scours Flea Markets for Vintage Photos of Women in Trees

Jun 10, 2026 - 01:09

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Collector Scours Flea Markets for Vintage Photos of Women in Trees

A young woman wearing a light-colored dress is perched barefoot on a branch of a tall pine tree, surrounded by leafy branches and foliage. The photo is black and white.

Wandering through a market in Frankfurt years ago, photo collector Jochen Raiss stumbled across a photo of a woman halfway up a tree.

This curious photo sparked a fascination that turned into a much larger project. He began finding similar photos of women in trees, and would eventually release books of his finds titled Women in Trees.

“I’ve been collecting historical amateur photographs for a long time, around 25 years. At the start, the photos were simply more like beautiful bookmarkers for me, certainly not a thematic series by a long shot,” Raiss tells his publisher Hatje Cantz in an interview.

“I knew I wanted to make something more out of them. In early 2014, I came up with the actually very logical idea of scanning the pictures I’d found. Suddenly, I noticed details on the monitor that I hadn’t been able to see with the naked eye. That was a very exciting experience for me.”

A person in swimwear climbs a coconut palm tree in front of a large building with arched windows and balconies, surrounded by tropical plants and a large round structure. The scene appears sunny and playful.

A woman in a light dress sits on the branch of a tree, smiling and holding a long-handled tool. There is a wooden shed and some bushes in the background on a sunny day.

on the left, a woman in a striped skirt playfully hangs from a tree branch in an orchard; on the right, two women sit smiling together on a tree branch.

Two women in vintage clothing sit side by side on a curved tree branch, smiling at the camera. Lush foliage surrounds them, and sunlight filters through the leaves, creating a serene, joyful outdoor scene.

On Instagram, Raiss uses the handle @imperfekt.photography, which is apt since it is amateur photos that interest him the most.

“The imperfect, the ‘normal,’ the everyday, the more ‘real’ life is what fascinates me. Pictures of people who have actually lived and are now no longer there,” he told The Huffington Post back in 2016.

A smiling woman in a light shirt and striped shorts hangs playfully from the branch of a tree beside a rural dirt road, with fields and rows of trees stretching into the distance. The photo is black and white.

Five women sit side by side on a large, curved tree branch outdoors, posing for a black-and-white photograph with leafy trees and shrubs in the background.

Three women in long skirts and elaborate hats pose on the branches of a large tree. Two stand on separate branches while one sits on a swing attached to the tree. The background shows bare branches and an open landscape.

A smiling woman in a light dress sits on a gnarled tree trunk outdoors, with one arm raised and grassy fields and bushes in the background. The scene appears sunny and cheerful.

He finds many of his photos at a flea market in Hamburg, where estate sales are routinely held. “There’s always a sad component to that, when you see that an entire household is being sold off,” he adds.

But Raiss will go all over to other markets in Germany searching for specific photos. “Some of the dealers already know me by sight, even. I talk to them about how I’m publishing a book now, featuring the pictures I’ve bought from them,” he says.

A smiling young woman stands between the trunks of a tree, holding onto the branches. The shadow of a person taking the photo is visible on the tree and ground. The background shows leafless trees and a clear sky.

Black and white photo of a woman in a dress and cloche hat standing on a tree branch. Pink border with large text at the top reading "Frauen auf Bäumen" and smaller text below. Outdoor, orchard-like setting.

Raiss says that he doesn’t find as many photos of men in trees as he does of women. He puts that down to the fact that men were more likely to be behind the camera at the dawn of amateur photography. Women, therefore, would pose for the camera.

Women in Trees is available from the Hatje Cantz website.

Image credits: © Estate Jochen Raiss

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