Poodles, Pipes, and Pigeons: Quirky Photos of Eccentric Clubs and their Members

By Isabella Biedenharn

June 9, 2014

There’s someone for everyone, they say. But in some cases, you might find a few someones for you — people who share your wacky interests and offbeat hobbies, people who have the same penchant for poodles, or taste for trams. When this happens, one obvious solution towers above the others: you start a club with them, of course!

In their series Hobby Buddies, spotted via Beautiful Decay, photographers Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini capture quite a few of these bizarre yet strangely adorable clubs, from the Merriment Pipe Smokers Club to the Butchers’ Friends Society, in a set of themed group portraits. Sprecher and Cortellini say that the images are dedicated to the “joy of pursuing a common cause or shared idea.”

We’d add that in addition to joy, these photos infuse both a hug-like warmth and a sense of relief in the viewer, a pleasing reminder that there’s a group for you out there just waiting for you to join. Or perhaps, in clicking through this gallery, you’ll be inspired to create a club of your very own.