Essay: Pictures through Time (partito due)
Last time we looked at some of my family pictures and discussed how pictures allowed us to see members of our family that we never would have had a chance to see. For instance, family members from over 100 years ago or our great grandparents when they were younger. They also allow us to see family members who we should have met, but died quite young.
This is a picture of my maternal grandmother. She died when my mother was less than a year old. Since we never met, I can only go on what others in my family had to say about her. Evidently, she and my mother shared a lot of the same characteristics. They even resemble each other. Enough so that when I saw the picture for the first time, I really thought it was my mother. It is the only picture of my grandmother that we have, which makes it that much more precious.
Like I said, I was young, so it never occurred to me that the age of the picture predated my mother's birth. If you know what you are looking for, you can tell the age of the picture by looking at the coloration. I'm going to have to check to be 100% accurate, but I don't think portrait studios had color negatives at that point or, if they did, there was a limited range of colors available. A lot of times, after the picture was taken, the photographer would "color" the picture using special inks. This gave the photograph the appearance of a painting, even when it isn't.
Then there is my Aunt Judy. She died when she was 18, about 3 years before I was born. Here are the pictures of her:
As a baby. Note: the photographer actually signed the picture in pencil.
At about 3 or 4, not sure which
Senior Picture
Of course, not to let my mother get away, here is a picture of her and Aunt Judy together:
Mom and Aunt Judy
Mom's senior picture
Alas, I shouldn't let myself escape from this picture fest. Most people will never know what I looked like when I graduated high school, so here is my senior picture, when I was young and beautiful and fifty pounds lighter (but we won't go there):
It's interesting to note that, had this been just over 150 years ago, none of this would have been possible. I would never have known what my grandmother and aunt looked like, nor would I have been able to see what my mother looked like when she graduated high school. Of course, you would never have known what a real studly I was (not!).
Of course, some pictures never existed. I had a twin brother who died in childbirth. There are no pictures of him; but, being an identical twin I never have to wonder what he would've looked like. All I have to do is look at a picture of myself, or look in a mirror, and I see him. Sometimes, if I look at a picture, I can imagine that it is him I am seeing and not me.
Once, just to see what it would look like, I took two images of myself and combined them into one picture using Paint Shop Pro. It's amazing how powerful pictures can be. At that one moment, more than any other, I missed having him around. Realized how different my life would've been if he had lived. It was such a powerful emotional surge that I couldn't bear to keep the picture and I deleted it. I have never attempted that again.
I imagine that my mother feels the same way when she looks at pictures of her own mother, my grandmother. How different her life would have been had she lived. How different would life have been for all of us if my Aunt Judy had lived. It is a lot easier to look at pictures of people you would never have known rather than pictures of people you should have known and never did.
Okay, enough of the emotional dribble. Next, we'll look and talk about some of the oldest pictures I have. I don't have any daguerreotypes, but I do have pictures that were created using the next generation of photography onward. They are still my family, but they cover a wide range from portrait studios with elaborate sets to carte de visite to and even 1 nature shot (if I can get it scanned correctly).
This is a picture of my maternal grandmother. She died when my mother was less than a year old. Since we never met, I can only go on what others in my family had to say about her. Evidently, she and my mother shared a lot of the same characteristics. They even resemble each other. Enough so that when I saw the picture for the first time, I really thought it was my mother. It is the only picture of my grandmother that we have, which makes it that much more precious.
Like I said, I was young, so it never occurred to me that the age of the picture predated my mother's birth. If you know what you are looking for, you can tell the age of the picture by looking at the coloration. I'm going to have to check to be 100% accurate, but I don't think portrait studios had color negatives at that point or, if they did, there was a limited range of colors available. A lot of times, after the picture was taken, the photographer would "color" the picture using special inks. This gave the photograph the appearance of a painting, even when it isn't.
Then there is my Aunt Judy. She died when she was 18, about 3 years before I was born. Here are the pictures of her:
Of course, not to let my mother get away, here is a picture of her and Aunt Judy together:
Alas, I shouldn't let myself escape from this picture fest. Most people will never know what I looked like when I graduated high school, so here is my senior picture, when I was young and beautiful and fifty pounds lighter (but we won't go there):
It's interesting to note that, had this been just over 150 years ago, none of this would have been possible. I would never have known what my grandmother and aunt looked like, nor would I have been able to see what my mother looked like when she graduated high school. Of course, you would never have known what a real studly I was (not!).
Of course, some pictures never existed. I had a twin brother who died in childbirth. There are no pictures of him; but, being an identical twin I never have to wonder what he would've looked like. All I have to do is look at a picture of myself, or look in a mirror, and I see him. Sometimes, if I look at a picture, I can imagine that it is him I am seeing and not me.
Once, just to see what it would look like, I took two images of myself and combined them into one picture using Paint Shop Pro. It's amazing how powerful pictures can be. At that one moment, more than any other, I missed having him around. Realized how different my life would've been if he had lived. It was such a powerful emotional surge that I couldn't bear to keep the picture and I deleted it. I have never attempted that again.
I imagine that my mother feels the same way when she looks at pictures of her own mother, my grandmother. How different her life would have been had she lived. How different would life have been for all of us if my Aunt Judy had lived. It is a lot easier to look at pictures of people you would never have known rather than pictures of people you should have known and never did.
Okay, enough of the emotional dribble. Next, we'll look and talk about some of the oldest pictures I have. I don't have any daguerreotypes, but I do have pictures that were created using the next generation of photography onward. They are still my family, but they cover a wide range from portrait studios with elaborate sets to carte de visite to and even 1 nature shot (if I can get it scanned correctly).
posted by bagelbuoy at 10:31
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home