Depth
The First Response: Enter Batman — Jessica
I had bit of a revelation last week at the library. Again. This time I was flipping through a book of portraits of people from exotic foreign lands during the 1920s and 1930s. I thought the photos were interesting and so I was trying to deconstruct them. Why were they interesting? What was catching my attention? It certainly wasn’t the poses of the people. They were, almost all of them, facing the camera straight on, in a very conventional pose — unblinking, unsmiling.
So what was the draw? It was the sheer exotic-ness. The Iraqi marsh dwellers, the Egyptian herders, their clothes, their habitat — that’s what drew me in.
And then I thought about the trove of old family pictures that I have on CD. Pictures of fancy dress Washington birthday parties from the 1900s and family portraits from the 1880s — it was the same fascination with them. Its almost an archaeological interest. Looking at all the details of the things that surround them and how similar and how different they are from me. Here. Now.
And finally, I realized who my audience is. It’s not just friends and family and nice by-passers on the photo internets…it’s my future family. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will look at my photos of their parents and grandparents and savor and wonder over every detail. Which means that I should probably add a lot more depth to my photos.
I am guilty of keeping the aperture wide open at times and keeping my depth-of-field short. Bokeh IS beautiful but fifty years from now, that detail will be priceless.
I absolutely love that shot, Jessica. It’s outstanding. That smile on his face, the arms flung back: it’s pure joy.
Your revelation is brilliant. I’ll be looking at many of my future photos in a new light.
That’s a great insight.
As a child, every visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house found us looking at the photo albums. It was neat to see pictures of my older cousins, my aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles at earlier stages in their life.
As years go by, the fashions change, and we get older, and the homes evolve. The pictures age too. But we have instant recall of those pictures the moment we see them. The same photograph, but forty years on.
I’ve always enjoyed old photographs of things I’m familiar with- streets that change, cars we used to have, a rocking chair or plate or clock which has been around and, in fact, is still used every day.
These are the good things.
I love the Batman series. They stand out.
Yes, I think what I realized is that sometimes it’s not the composition, or the lighting that really makes the picture. It’s the way that, once time passes and the memory begins to fade, they photograph will reignite that memory and the captured details will trigger more. I’d never thought of it that way before, either.