Beard, Sophie (2020) The First and Last Picture: the temporality of the family photograph. Rundbrief Fotografie, 27 (1):105. ISSN 2751-0476 (Print), 0945-0327 (Online)

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Abstract

It is the context of the family photograph in the newspaper that makes its reading strange as the image shifts from the private to the public. Developments in technology have changed the way family photographs are translated within the news with the shift from analogue to digital. This has resulted in the blurring of the boundaries between the public and the private in the press. Drawing on my personal archive of collected examples of family photographs in newspapers this paper will focus on the temporal qualities of the family photograph in the context of the newspaper. It will discuss the way the press utilise the notion of time and how this influences the way photographs are subsequently read. This is evidenced by the newspaper captions and headlines that often have a temporal dimension, such as 'The last family photograph' dramatically making clear the finality of these images. In a sense these family photographs take on a new and important responsibility of being the last visual record. These 'last' pictures are also different in experienced temporality; they are the last photograph for the family, but the first photograph for the reader i.e. 'the first picture of the last picture.' On-line social networking sites like Facebook have allowed the newspapers greater access to family photographs resulting in the use of more candid types of imagery. Developments in technology have also brought about a shift in the viewers expectations of immediacy. Family photographs are taken so close to the time of the reported incident that this 'proximity' of the photograph to the event becomes a signifier of meaning in and of itself. Whether the image is a good family photograph or not is outweighed by the temporal nearness of the incident. The immediacy of the image is conveyed by the headline; 'minutes after this photo was taken'. Perhaps it can be argued that this prioritisation of time evidences the emphasis placed on the photograph as object/commodity in its presentness at the expense of the meaning within the photographic image itself.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Rundbrief Fotografie is an international quarterly journal devoted to analogue and digital photography in archives and collections. Besides contributions on the history of the medium and on photography collections in institutions from around the world, theoretical and practice-oriented articles address questions of inventory, digitization, conservation, and restoration, as well as issues of copyright and open access. Reviews of exhibitions and books, conference reports, and an international calendar announcing upcoming conferences and workshops are also included. The journal targets academics, curators, archivists, conservators, photographers, librarians, collectors, as well as a broad community of those interested in photography. Although the main language is German, all leading articles are preceded by an English abstract. The journal encourages submissions of articles or contributions in English.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	family photography, archive, temporality, collecting
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics T Technology > T Technology (General) T Technology > TR Photography
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Design (DES)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2025 11:31
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/42703

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