Snapshot Versions of Life

Preface

Preface We know that the majority of American families own inexpensive cameras, and that ordinary people use those cameras to take enormous numbers of pictures of themselves. People save, preserve, and treasure these pictures more than many of their other possessions. We know, too, that people take time and trouble to organize their pictures into various kinds of albums, sometimes sending special pictures to relatives and friends in all parts of the world. And, occasionally, they enlarge and frame individual pictures to be hung on household walls. While people commonly revere their own snapshot collections, they often express negative opinions about other people's pictures. (Being "invited over" to see someone else's travel slides or home movies is something to be avoided if at all possible.) The question I want to address in the following chapters is quite simple, namely "What's all the fuss about?" My approach to studying amateur photography draws attention to a question that will be repeated throughout the book: "What are people doing when they make, appear in, or look at their own collections of personal pictures?" How do people know what to do? But I am not referring to technical information needed to produce photographic images. Camera manufacturers have historically taken care of that by continually developing more fully automated, error-free, inexpensive equipment. Commercial pressures and entrepreneurial initiatives have sought to guarantee that "every picture will turn out." And they obviously have done quite well. But questions addressed in this book have a different twist. My studies have been directed toward understanding the knowledge that one must have in order to take "good" pictures-but what is a "good" picture? How do we decide? And how do we "know" all the things that we know about photos-how to take them, how to exhibit them? How do we know who should be asked or allowed to see these pictures, as well as when and where the pictures should be shown? What is taken for granted about this type of photography? And how is this knowledge used in everyday life? I am also asking a set of questions about communication. I have been studying the kinds of personal expression and interpersonal communication that underlie forms of amateur photography. What are I 2 Snapshot Versions of Life people "saying" about themselves when they make snapshots and home movies? What are they expressing about their lives, their psychological, social, and cultural circumstances? What messages are being shared between photographers and viewers? What kinds of information are being transferred from generation to generation between the covers of a family album, in cans of home movies, or in videotape cassettes? I have been investigating how this communication system works: what kind of communication is taking place when family members, relatives, or friends look at a family album, slide collection, or home movie? How does this form of communication compare with other forms of interpersonal or visual communication? Are these forms of photography similar to writing diaries, letters, or journals, or are they like sending tape-recorded messages between people or families? What does this communication system borrow from the mass media? Does it imitate, duplicate forms of photojournalism, of fine art, of documentary or popular feature films? Some answers to these questions are more obvious and easily stated than others. This book provides less obvious answers-answers which describe the cultural dimensions of amateur photography. To this end, I have formulated the concepts of "Kodak culture," "Polaroid people," and "the home mode of pictorial communication." These concepts will be clearer after we explore how amateur photography is related t~ symbolic forms and symbolic environments, and how human life can be interpreted as a complex relationship between culture and communication. Sources of Information Findings and generalizations presented in the following chapters come from a variety of sources. I have examined approximately 200 collections of personal imagery at various times over the past ten years. The majority of the collections belong to white middle class Americans living in various locations of northeastern United States. Most of the pictures were made between 1940 and 1980. My comments come from the results of several studies, which include (a) an inventory of family photographic practices through use of a questionnaire (See Appendix for a copy of questionnaire); (b) a study of home movie viewing and interpretation through personally directed, open-ended interviews; (c) a commissioned study comparing conventional camera use with instant camera habits and practices; and (d) a study of the...