Resources on the extremely powerful emotional pull of photographs?
September 16, 2018 5:09 AM Subscribe
When people are asked the one thing they would save in a house fire, it’s usually photographs.
Even the most stoic people I know are touched by photographs. Even in this era of social media and always-on technology, photographs (whether printed or in digital format) still have the power to captivate people like no other medium. I would love to investigate this further, can anybody recommend some books, websites which discuss this in more detail?
Even the most stoic people I know are touched by photographs. Even in this era of social media and always-on technology, photographs (whether printed or in digital format) still have the power to captivate people like no other medium. I would love to investigate this further, can anybody recommend some books, websites which discuss this in more detail?
Which suggests that this is going to change eventually, as most photos end up having a digital origin.
posted by lydhre at 5:20 AM on September 16, 2018
posted by lydhre at 5:20 AM on September 16, 2018
Oh hey, if anyone’s interested, you’re in luck, archive.org has the pdf.
posted by juv3nal at 5:59 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by juv3nal at 5:59 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
There was a survey done on this, https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/what-would-you-save-in-a-fire - top result is wallets, then photos. I think increasingly it will become phones instead as photos live forever in the cloud.
posted by JonB at 7:13 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by JonB at 7:13 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Susan Sontag “On Photography” addresses exactly what you are talking about.
posted by johngumbo at 11:20 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by johngumbo at 11:20 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was also going to recommend "On Photography," although Sontag takes a fairly dim view of photography and the motivations for it.
posted by Beardman at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Beardman at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's a Mad Men episode about naming the Kodak Carousel that has a lot of good thoughts about the emotional nature of photographs. I remember something about photographs being like a time machine, rocking one back and forth ... like a baby in a carousel? I don't remember it fully, but it was powerful.
posted by xammerboy at 10:38 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by xammerboy at 10:38 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Take a look at Geoffrey Batchen's theory of vernacular photography. "Vernacular" describes photographs and photographic works which are "amateur" and banal, the everyday snaps we all take that will never make it to an art gallery or exhibition. Often these objects are imbued with huge personal meaning, and invite the viewer to engage with them imaginatively and/or physically.
Source:
Batchen, Geoffrey. (2000). Vernacular Photographies. History of Photography, 24(3), 262-271. Online here (requires subscription). Or available as a .pdf (from republication as a book chapter elsewhere) via a course syllabus here.
posted by thetarium at 2:19 AM on September 18, 2018
Source:
Batchen, Geoffrey. (2000). Vernacular Photographies. History of Photography, 24(3), 262-271. Online here (requires subscription). Or available as a .pdf (from republication as a book chapter elsewhere) via a course syllabus here.
posted by thetarium at 2:19 AM on September 18, 2018
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posted by lydhre at 5:18 AM on September 16, 2018