The Beginning

Portrait of yours truely
Originally uploaded by yakifung.

Photography – capturing a moment in time, one of the best ways to record history. Family portraits in the late 1800s and into the 1900s looked more like a line up for a sports team. Straight faced and stiff, at times it was hard to tell if it was a family I was looking at. Now, into present day families show emotion towards each other. The photos are less formal and less linear. Making copies is only a click away; so many family members may have copies. Everyone and anyone may view your photographs online if you wish. Online albums are a possibility now. Put your photos into a template a company prints them out and puts them into a book and sends it to your address. Photographs are traded in a matter of seconds. They are traded either through e-mail, photo sharing sites like Flickr.com, aol instant messenger, file transfer protocols and more. I am saddened in the fact how impersonal printing a photograph has become. Very few people anymore go into a dark room. We now live in a digital world. Personalizing a photograph has a new meaning now. I think that photo sharing has become less personal because, most of the time people are simply sending a file. Having a tangible photograph on paper is more meaningful. Just like receiving a written letter in the mail is more meaningful than receiving an email. I guess it’s just the American way, faster and more efficient. The American way isn’t always the best way, yet we all fall into buy into it.