The Keeper of Records
Why do we photograph?
After a couple of years of loss (both parents and two dogs), I understand more than I once did how important documenting the now is, for the future.
An image of my mother when young (she died recently at 80 years). From her perspective, the dog, long gone now, would have been the focus of her memories kept safe in an image, and maybe also the time and place. For me it was the first time I had seen the image, produced for the funeral. My grandfather was a chemist and avid photographer from the 1930’s on, which makes my family luckier than most I guess.
After we lost our two older dogs, I did albums of their lives. It helped us cope and move on.
Our two young dogs, it has recently occurred to me, have not had as many images taken of them. Is this because they are young, or maybe in reverence to their predecessors, or possibly I am just not ready.
Maybe the lunacy is just too much to deal with? Lucy (left) has no puppy images, being a rescue, Daisy has some, but not heaps and precious few printed.
I know that I took more images of the older two towards their later years, so presence of mind to take photos may be in direct proportion to our awareness of mortality. Luckily though, I got lots of images of them young.
Ironically, in an age of torrential photography, with more and more of it focussed on life’s mundanities, we run the risk of losing our memories through a lack of long term thinking. The image at the top of this post is 60+ years old. It was one of many found in an old album, not in the best condition, but stable and (other than creases), in salvageable condition. This “shoe box under the bed” reality is disappearing in the digital world.
Our digital memories and even our cheap prints done on poor quality ink jet paper will probably not outlast our cameras (5 years on average). The Cloud is a help, as long as you (a) remember the image exists (b) can access it (c) allow others to see/access it (d) do not drown what is important in a sea of crap.
Is Facebook going to be our “box under the bed” for the future? If so, who will take the time to preserve.