History In Your Shoebox?
photography the art or process of producing images on a sensitized surface by the action of radiant energy and esp. light
Photography is one of the Fine Arts. The names Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams, among others, come to mind. Their photographs are masterpieces, presenting to us certain moments in time and thus preserving a history of those times.
There are in countless homes, hidden on top closet shelves, in attics full of discards, on floors behind furnaces, neglected snapshots thrown randomly into shoeboxes or other containers. They are there because there wasn't time or inclination to deal with them then, and are thus forgotten in this day of digital photography. Whether those pictures are in color or in black and white, they are hidden history. Some may prove to be valuable because they have recorded an event, a scene, a person, in some special way.
What can be learned by looking at them? People: young becoming older, changing styles in hair, cosmetics, clothing, ornaments - all from a certain point in time. Modes of transportation: cars, once new, now antiques; surface transport, air, and sea. Buildings constructed for a definite use, now transformed into something entirely different or torn down. Changing skylines of cities; scenery now bulldozed and gone or victim of nature's effect. Notice backgrounds, once ignored in deference to foreground subjects, which hold meaningful images now. History in your shoebox.
Do you have old snapshots lying loose in a box? Have you written dates on them, and names? Will you look at them, now, with history in mind? Will you use technology instead of a shoebox in order to preserve them?
Chinese Proverb:
Photography is one of the Fine Arts. The names Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams, among others, come to mind. Their photographs are masterpieces, presenting to us certain moments in time and thus preserving a history of those times.
There are in countless homes, hidden on top closet shelves, in attics full of discards, on floors behind furnaces, neglected snapshots thrown randomly into shoeboxes or other containers. They are there because there wasn't time or inclination to deal with them then, and are thus forgotten in this day of digital photography. Whether those pictures are in color or in black and white, they are hidden history. Some may prove to be valuable because they have recorded an event, a scene, a person, in some special way.
What can be learned by looking at them? People: young becoming older, changing styles in hair, cosmetics, clothing, ornaments - all from a certain point in time. Modes of transportation: cars, once new, now antiques; surface transport, air, and sea. Buildings constructed for a definite use, now transformed into something entirely different or torn down. Changing skylines of cities; scenery now bulldozed and gone or victim of nature's effect. Notice backgrounds, once ignored in deference to foreground subjects, which hold meaningful images now. History in your shoebox.
Do you have old snapshots lying loose in a box? Have you written dates on them, and names? Will you look at them, now, with history in mind? Will you use technology instead of a shoebox in order to preserve them?
Chinese Proverb:
One picture is worth more than ten thousand words.
posted by marguerite louise at
1:15 PM
7 Comments:
I like this post a lot.
I have MANY photos, almost exclusively of my beloved companion animals. Even the duplicates are too precious to part with.
With the advent of scrapbooking as such a popular hobby (not one of mine, btw), my guess is that the "old-fashioned" photograph is here to stay.
(Hope no one finds cause to take me to task for this comment :) )
By
Anonymous, at 6/05/2005 7:16 PM
Carrie, I agree. I save all my pet photos---even the ones that only show a blurry tail and hind leg scampering off! Maybe you might like to Google the "dog gallery" of artist Catherine Massaro and see her companions.
Great post, Odysseuse. I'm getting those shoeboxes out of the closet now to review history.
By
Anonymous, at 6/05/2005 10:49 PM
I think of photos taken for scientific and technological purposes as another form of photography-as-fine-art. These are images of things so teeny you couldn't see them without an electron microscope or so seemingly ordinary, you wouldn't think of them as art unless you caught them as they occurred.
Kimberly, you might find this net article by Andrew Davidhazy, prof at RIT, useful in one of your science/math lessons---or just for fun! Google:
"There is more to a BLUR than meets the EYE!"
Happy Whirligigging!
By
Anonymous, at 6/07/2005 3:24 PM
I hauled out my yearbook just before Memorial Day. Talk about history. Good grief, the pictures weren't even in color!
There was a very talented and intelligent young man in my class (1963) who was killed in Viet Nam - the war that killed the young men in my generation.
I took a few minutes to mourn him, and then looked up his name on the Viet Nam Memorial to discover that very day would have been his 60th birthday.
By
Marguerite, at 6/07/2005 8:55 PM
This is to all of you: you have made this post, and others, mean so much more than I had hoped for them to do - and for that I thank you. Your comments are treasures.
By
marguerite louise, at 6/07/2005 9:52 PM
Photos are treasures to me. They are reminders of what once was...both good and bad. I approach my picture taking differently now. I used to take them with film and a regular camera. The cost of developing was always an issue...so shots were chosen rather than taken as the urge struck me.
The advent of digital cameras and technology have changed my approach to both taking photos and storing them. I take many, many photos now. I can delete the photos that are technically inadequate without incurring any expense other than the time to review them. I use many photos on my blog. I save them on my hard disk, back up on to CD's regularly and print those that I want either to hang, or carry with me to show off or review.
I have never taken a course in photography...my skill has developed by allowing myself to take many photos, noting settings used and the differences that occured. I know what I like to look at and am generally satisfied with what I take and keep.
My children will have the benefit of many photos to look back upon. Photos of them, thier pets, where we lived, things we did, familiar smiling faces. I don't have that benefit from my childhood. Thanks for inspiring the thought and allowing me to share my comments.
By
Anonymous, at 6/09/2005 1:28 AM
This post rings true to my heart. After inheriting shoeboxes full of old photos, I sat down with my mother & grandmother's and labeled them. I wasn't just blessed with the baby and wedding photos of two generations, but real life photos as well. These are amazing, with my grandmother & her sister's outside the Steel (she was a Rosie) and she and some friends in Times Square,circa 1910. Picnics by the lake, and my Dad driving an old Model T!
The thought of doing a scrapbook with these great photos just wouldn't do it justice, so I decided on a photo wall. I covered the walls of my powder room with the photos, in old frames and mats. I took scrapbooking pens and stickers and made tags, giving the name and year of the photos. It has been a wonderful tribute, and I often loose guests in there for hours!
By
Angela, at 6/15/2005 6:45 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home