The holidays are in full spring and that means lots of gatherings, preparing covered dishes and or finger food and of course just lots of good old-fashioned visiting and fun. We had our family Christmas this past weekend with 22 attending. Four generations with our 5 greats having the most fun with each other. With gatherings like that there is always someone taking pictures which is so easy with todays cellphones. However taking pictures wasn’t an easy job when photography first started.
Have you ever noticed how stern the subjects are in those old photos taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Not many smiles. Photography started in 1839. Since then the world is “click” crazy. Everyone got their chance to sit in front of a lens and have their portrait taken but It was quite the ordeal. Since the film plate had to be exposed for several minutes, the subject had to sit or stay perfectly motionless the entire time. No sneezing or scratching the nose. Sometimes this took 20 or 30 minutes until the photographer recapped his lens and told him to relax. With such a beginning, it is a miracle that photography didn’t just die, right then and there.
There were growing pains with several different kinds of imagery but it wasn’t until the tintype which became instantly popular and led to the masses being able to enjoy having a picture taken. For the first time imagery could be produced quickly and cheaply so almost everyone wanted to have at least one tintype picture and probably more. Perhaps you have a tintype of a family member. With such enthusiasm those photos left a rich legacy of old photos to let us look back on the “Good Old Days” and what life looked like back then. With all the advances in photography we are blest with today, we can have a very good idea of what life was like “back then” and all of the years in between then and now. Photos help remind us of special moments, people and places.
Nostalgia is King, and many people enjoy looking backwards in time, A good way to do it is looking at old pictures.
Note: Do try to date the picture and the name of the person(s) in the photo, and possibly the event.
Happy holiday Christmas picture taking. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
