That’s pretty much it….someone lost it – you found it. C’mon, people lose stuff every day. Walk next to any road and you’ll find a hubcap, a shoe, a glove. On the train or subway you may find a hat or umbrella.
My (so far unphotographed) collection includes work gloves, two ?5 notes, two of those ball pump attachment thingies, a number of ballpoint pens, and some other stuff.
As Elsinore said, there’s no way to enforce it, but have some fun.
I think some confusion might arise out of the fact that the traditional definition of “found object” in art is a bit broader and less literal than you are giving in this case. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_art for more explanation.
I only mention it as this will be the first entry of mine that I’m actually shooting specifically for, rather than pulling from past work, and I’d like to make sure that I’m sticking to the spirit of the theme.
