We have an ongoing project around our house — we have thousands of old photographs taken over the years and we’re making an attempt to organize them and scan them into a digital format. I’ve got the job of scanning and Claire has the un-enviable job of categorizing them and identifying the subjects.
Anyhow, as I’ve gone through these old pictures, I noticed that a lot of the pictures were of friends, and families, gathered together. It made me think about the way people take pictures these days. If you check the pictures you’ve taken on your iPhone, I’d bet it’s full of screenshots and selfies. Why don’t people take pictures with their friends — or family — anymore?
I mentioned screenshots — a lot of the pictures I have on my phone are of things I need to buy a part for, or to remember, or something someone sent to me for some reason — it’s more of a memory/reference book than a photo album.
I noticed a lot of our older pictures are of groups, usually families, gathered in from of the house. The house seems to always be a part of the picture. Front-of-the-house family photos seemed to have been the thing back then.
I suppose before people had cameras, they must have hired photographers to take their pictures. Since a lot of these pictures are in front of the house, I guess photographers made “house calls” like doctors. But we do have some old photos that were quite probably taken in a photographers studio.
I hadn’t thought about it before, but maybe having these pictures taken in front of a house was to send a message that the family was prosperous enough to own their home. I noticed that a lot of the newer — but still “old” — pictures were often taken at what looked like a picnic or with a car of some kind in the picture…. again, maybe that was sending a message about their “wealth.”
But what’s with all theses selfies? The Oxford Dictionary declared “selfie” the word of the year in 2013. At that time, it was defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself.” But today it seems to be a bit more than that…. it’s kind of a photograph that “features” oneself.
And to be honest, our society has become so complicated, that taking group pictures is more difficult, and people may think it’s intrusive. You now have to worry about being sued or some kind of legal action being taken anytime you’re around other people.
Looking at our old pictures, it seems that they weren’t taken just for the sake of taking a picture — a lot of them marked some important event or milestone — a baptism, wedding, or maybe a vacation.
Looking through the pictures on my phone, doesn’t feature many special events — there’s probably more pictures of “stuff” and “things” than people — or — special occasions.
If your phone pictures are like that, maybe it means that our online life is becoming more important than our offline existence…. maybe we should change that. It might be nice to look at our families in front of the house again…..
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