Smile! You're making history – Family photo album takes on a new look: digital
On September 15, 2007 Kodak imploded another of its buildings on Lake Avenue. The almost century old building was imploded Saturday morning at 7:00. With the coming of digital cameras, camera film, like so many things from our past, is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The company will now concentrate on the digital market.Upon hearing this news I couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse over it. Being one of those dinosaurs from the 20th century that still owns her first brownie camera, I couldn't help but remember and lament over the changes that have taken place to that irrepressible picture-taking machine called a camera and the people who controlled it.
"Say 'Cheese!' Watch the birdie! Smile! Coochie-coochie-coo!" That's how it sounded when I was a kid, and someone was having their picture taken, way back in the mid 20th century. The professional photographer taking a family's portrait would try everything short of standing on his heads to get a happy, congenial, family portrait.
The professional photographers of the 1940s, '50s and '60s, were dedicated to making their subjects smile, a sharp contrast to earlier family portraits found in grandma's photo album from the early 1900s.
In these old family pictures, yellowed with age, subjects looked more like they were about to have all their teeth extracted instead of posing for a pleasant family photo. It seemed that photographers rarely encouraged a smile.
Photography was a complicated and serious business in grandma's day, and posing for a family picture was a dreaded experience. The exposure time for a primitive camera was anywhere from 15 minutes to a full hour. And the poor person whose picture was being taken would have to stay perfectly still for that length of time.
In the mid-1800s, special chairs were equipped with sturdy steel clamps that fit snugly around subjects' arms and neck to prevent them from moving their heads and hands. The agony of having to sit still for such a long time can be seen clearly in their fixed stares and clenched fists.
During my grandparents’ generation, it was common practice to have professional photos taken of departed loved ones as they lay in state. These portraits of the deceased were displayed on living room walls as a grim reminder of the loss. In many cases, this was the only photo ever taken of the person. This tradition, which continued until the 1920s, may have contributed to the somberness of living subjects in early photos.
According to the World Book Encyclopedia, in 1839 a Frenchman named Daguerre developed a camera that could take photos using glass plates coated with chemicals. Photographers had to carry a huge, heavy camera, as well as a wagonload of equipment used to process their film.
In about 1888, George Eastman and W.H. Walker produced roll film and lightweight camera. These remarkable cameras were sold with the film inside, 100 pictures to a roll. The camera was sent back to the plant for developing. Eastman and Walker's invention spawned the brownie box camera.
Glancing through my album of old photos, I find that they usually fall into one of several categories: childhood events, family vacations and holiday get-togethers were the usual occasions that provoked us to load film into the old box camera. As I grow older, I'm inclined to value and appreciate those photos that let me relive a precious moment from my past.
Looking at those old black-and-white photos of family gatherings, I can almost smell nonna's wonderful tomato sauce. I can see dear papa snoozing in his easy chair, his Sunday paper resting in his lap, and mom and dad cuddling the new baby while Auntie Ann played a tune on the accordion.
Like most people, I can trace my life events in these family photos. And like most families, I have a storehouse of photographs.
Because few people owned cameras back then, there are only one or two photos in existence of my grandparents as young adults, so the ones I do have of them are precious. Hearing stories about Grandma's bountiful holiday table is one thing, but seeing it brings the story to life.Whenever there was a family celebration when I was a kid, you could bet the entire family would show up for the festivities, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even family pets. And, thank goodness, among them was always a relative--usually mom--with a camera in hand, insisting we all say
"Cheese!"
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