Photo blog/community art project Dear Photograph just opened two months ago, and it’s already taken the internet by storm. With a mix of past and present evoking memory for the individual and a surprisingly universal longing for days gone by, it also gives us a chance to study the different technology used by submitters.
Dear Photograph asks users to “take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.” It’s a simple concept: find an old picture and take a picture of it held up to the same location, basically putting yourself in the shoes of the original picture taker, separated only by time. Then submit it with a one line message.
Here’s a good example where the anonymous submitter lined the picture up almost perfectly.
Dear Photograph, I’ll always remember the summers in that truck. Anonymous
Immediately, the viewer notices that some things have remained the same (in this case, even the color of the house is unchanged), while time’s passage is clear with other elements (that willow tree has grown quite a bit).
I grew up on a farm that my parents still own, which my grandparents and great-grandparents owned before them. Most of the black and white photographs from Dad’s childhood are in locations that I recognize from my childhood and from my visit Tuesday evening. That constancy is undoubtedly the reason this next one is my favorite entry so far. It’s almost as if you could step through time and hear the kids splashing while the clothes move in the breeze.
Dear Photograph, Some things never change. mikaelagallagher
I love thinking about the technology used by the person who took the picture in 1960. What kind of camera was it taken with, and how much did that camera cost? How long after the film (remember film?) was submitted to a developer before they got the photograph back and saw the outcome for the first time? A day? A week?
Now, think about the technology used by Mikaela Gallagher to take the picture of a picture. According to the EXIF (exchangeable image file) information embedded in the digital picture, it was taken on June 16, 2011, with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS that has an exposure of 0.013 seconds, aperture of f/5.6, and no flash. It was modified using Photoshop 5.1 for Windows at 4:23:07 on June 21, 2011. Mikaela was able to see her picture instantly after taking it, and the picture itself will probably never exist in physical form.
Tech certainly has changed in the 51 years since the original photograph was taken. Makes me wonder how much further technology will get in the next 51 years.
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