Adjusting to New Developments

Dear Readers: some of you have seen this piece, as it was posted last week…but most of you have NOT, because of a glitch in the mailing process. So thanks for reading. 

Photos of the meal you’re eating, the dress you might buy, the garbage cans left out on a neighbors’ driveway, the rash developing on your face–all are examples of photos that will probably be deleted from your phone, after they have fulfilled their purpose. Because now, in the age of the cell phone, the ability to carry a camera has changed the way we think about photos, and how we use them. It was a new development in our society, but now it is common to almost everyone. But is that always a good thing?

A BOOK ABOUT FACEBOOK PHOTOS and MORE

In his book, TERMS OF SERVICE, Jacob Silverman, (who has been cited as a “thoughtful critic of our evolving digital lifestyles”) points out the negatives (excuse the pun) in our picture-snapping culture: “Photos become less about memorializing a moment than communicating the reality of that moment to others.”

He expands this idea, claiming that often the purpose of the picture is not to live in and capture the moment, but to deal with the anxiety we may feel at that moment–others doing things more interesting, more fulfilling than we are. Thus the photo has entered into a timeless competition. Silverman also believes that party-goers may forget about experiencing fun, preferring to get into a Facebook Photo that announces online: YES, I’M HAVING FUN. LOOK AT ME!

And I find it interesting, that in this current time (which will probably become even more frenetic and not disappear) we feel the need, NOT ONLY to send photos of all that we do, BUT we ALSO go somewhere to practice MINDFULNESS, to be still, listen to our breathing, so we can learn to live in the moment. REALLY? How ironic.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PHOTO

So let’s take a step back, because before all of THIS, the constant need to capture an action or a moment in time and shout it to the world–there was the mind, there was thought. So can we look at it this way: 

1. The purpose of a photo was to PRESERVE a human’s image: to help us know that person and to remember them. Previously, those with wealth sat for a portrait painted by either a really good artist or an itinerant one–but the job got done, and thus we know what Elizabeth the First of England supposedly looked like, as well as George Washington etc. You get the picture! 

2. The purpose of a photo also became its ability to record history. Yes, there are paintings of battles, coronations, but they took months. Photographs were more immediate and allowed for a variety of views. Think Mathew B. Brady (May 18, 1822 – January 15, 1896) a photo-journalist, one of the first American photographers, whose name became synonymous with photos of the Civil War.

3. As the decades progressed, the daguerreotype and the tintype gave way to a process where a dry gel on paper or film, replaced the photographic plate, so a photographer could take photos without the boxes of plates and toxic chemicals previously needed. Film was developed by George Eastman, of Rochester, New York, in 1884. As early as 1888, Eastman’s Kodak camera was available to consumers. His slogan: “You press the button, we do the rest.” By 1901 the public could take photos using the famous Kodak Brownie, a great little camera that took pretty decent photos. 

4. And that truly was the beginning–because you didn’t need to hire someone to paint your portrait. Families could frame photographs, hang them in their homes, honoring grandparents, remembering weddings, births, or to help the aching heart missing those who were miles away. In some cultures, people even took photos of their loved ones in coffins surrounded by flowers. All of this being about remembering, preserving, honoring: but also BEING IN THAT MOMENT.

A TALISMAN OF MEMORY – MINDFULNESS ANYONE?

You could say that holding a photo of your sweetheart as a GI during World War II or glancing at one taped to your flight deck as a pilot during any conflict, became a moment of memory but also mindfulness. The photo carried you away from the trauma, and for brief moments you could be present to the person you loved. Photos were, and for many still are a talisman of memory. Photos ignite thought.

But maybe not as much now. The ability to take photos of things truly worthy of remembering, but also of things you might forget in 15 minutes–has changed our attitudes toward the photos themselves. We take a photo and delete. Why? Because we worry about how we look–we probably always did, but film was costly and you didn’t SEE the photo until after it was developed. Photo phones changed that process, and truly changed what picture-taking meant in the moment. Because it’s not a moment–it’s a photo-shopped or deleted moment until the right moment comes along!

THE POLAROID OR LET’S GET NAKED

First we had the Polaroid. Now we have the cell phone! The Polaroid saved folks from taking  your roll of film to the local drugstore to be developed…and when you return for it, you have to meet with a manager or maybe even a policeman. (This happened to a friend of mine as recently as the 90’s. She took some photos of her children naked in the bathtub, too much anatomy showing. Her children, but they had to make sure…)

The Polaroid did allow people to take such photos–you developed them right in your home. Now the concept of privacy isn’t on anyone’s radar, some people having been labeled sex offenders, because they were not aware of the dangers of clicking without thinking first…their images being traced back to them. Such images could hardly fit into some nostalgia category or talisman of memory. Again–change change change.

PHOTO HISTORY

I have taken photos forever, and have been extremely grateful to my husband who’s a great photographer. I love our family, want to remember them at all their amazing stages. I also treasure the homes we have lived in. But I didn’t take these photos so everyone would say WOW. I believe photos of family should be protected and treasured. I don’t think everyone needs to see them, and I’m sure we are not that protected online.

Jacob Silverman would probably agree with me. He writes: Social networking is a staple of modern life, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication, identity, and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand…(he discusses) the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what’s share-worthy; and the…(ability of ) social media platforms—Facebook, Google, Twitter (X), and more—to mine our personal data for advertising revenue…POINT: (is invading our privacy)

I treasure the photo albums I have been keeping for years, and our children enjoy seeing themselves at any age, and in many different places. If I share online, it is infrequent, and I am judicious as to what I share. My photos mean something to me. They stir up memories, create thought. The photo leaps beyond to the smells, sounds and feelings of that day, that moment.

What do your photos mean to you? As a dear and wonderful friend of mine once told me in her practical and knowing way: if your house catches on fire, grab your photos albums. Everything else can be replaced. Well readers, maybe the message is: take better care of your printed photos, but also watch what you take on your phones!