Most people would agree that family is everything. Some people might even say that God is first, their family second, and themselves third. One could easily say that family is one word, meaning it can have different meanings to different people. Family can be defined as a combination of our social, cultural and economic backgrounds. No matter what, all family members have one thing in common. They call each other family.
American writer, filmmaker, teacher, philosopher Susan Sontag shared an amazing write-up about photography. She discusses family photos and how they were used in the “memorializing achievements of individuals as members of families (and other groups).” Sontag continued by saying that photography was created to symbolically memorialize and restate the loss of continuity and extended family life. She also explained that sometimes photographs don’t reflect the actual events at the time. Santog also stated that photography can sometimes be distorted to reflect the reality of what is going on. Sontag’s views on photography reflect the many ways that photography has had an impact on society. My family has photographs that can be traced back to around 40 years ago. Even though my family didn’t have a personal camera at the time, it was clear to me that my family would hire a professional photographer to sometimes take photos of family members at events or just to take their own photographs.
My family has a unique rule: Every photo must be taken several times in order to have one for everyone. This 60-year-old photo is the one I’ll be analysing. The picture shows three people. Two young women and one boy. The boy in the photo is smiling big and happy. The little boy was eager to get in everyone’s pictures because it was picture day. The young girls standing beside him are his sisters. Their little brother’s threat is making one look stressed. The boy in the photo is wearing a shirt with a drawing on it. His sisters are wearing a similar shirt. This was a common old school shirt among 60s-era young people. The photograph is quite obliviously taken. As the young ladies look out at the distant, I can see them holding their brother with their hands and placing their hands on the boy’s thighs. You can also see that the young woman on the left has quite a few bangles and huge earrings. Given her mature appearance, it is possible she was between 23 and 25, while the other sister could have been between 18 and 20, while the little boy in this photograph would have been between 3 to 5. The photos also showed that the boy was seated in a high chair to match the height of the other sisters.
A uniform background led me to believe that this photo was taken in an studio. This photograph is of my dad and his sisters from back in the 50s. This photo clearly supports Sontag’s argument that picture tells a different story than reality. It also supports Sontag’s argument that photography is a family-recorded achievement. Another family photo that I have seen could lead me to conclude that photography was part of my family’s daily life. My family has been able to pass on their knowledge through photos from that time, which helped us understand who we were and what life was like for them.
