Selective Focus: Ancestry

Tim White Oct 30, 2015 3 Comments

Brian Barber, “John Barber: Service station owner, school bus driver, Mayor, Parnell, MO”

This week’s theme offers the opportunity for a p.s.a.: have prints made of the images you’re making now, or we might not have the kinds of memories shown here. Digital media storage changes so quickly that having our memories in tangible form may vanish. Anyone still have a floppy drive on their pc, or a pc for that matter?

Next week’s theme will be “November;” that time of year we brace ourselves to pivot into Winter when the leaves have peaked, turkeys remain unbasted, and the holiday lights haven’t yet gone up. Send your unwatermarked, signature-less images by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m to tim @ perfectduluthday.com — 1000px at their largest dimension — along with title (if any), and URL of your website, Facebook page, Tumblr, or Flickr stream.

Annie Dugan, untitled

Ann Klefstad, untitled

Dave Sorensen, untitled

Tim White, “Mohrbachers, Mostly”

Tim White, “Bud and Louise White”

Paul Lundgren, “Mom in the Kitchen”

Stephanie Lundgren, “Great Grandma Colleen”

Paul McIntyre, “Grandmother Emma”

Paul McIntyre, “Grandpa Thomas at 17”

Sue [Lorenzi] Sojourner, “Family, Holmes County, Mississippi”

Recommended Links:

Art, Photos Selective Focus

3 Comments

brian

about 8 years ago

Some of these are so amazing. Good point about the changing media, and trying to keep track of all the pictures we take, Tim. I actually never saw this image of my grandpa until a week ago, even though I took it - almost 30 years ago. I've been scanning negatives from rolls of film I shot when I was in college, and there are a lot of rolls that never even made it to a contact sheet.

Tim White

about 8 years ago

"Taking photographs seems no longer primarily an act of memory intended to safeguard a family's pictorial heritage, but is increasingly becoming a tool for an individual's identity formation and communication... The increased manipulation of photographic images may suit the individual's need for continuous self-remodelling and instant communication and bonding. However, that same manipulability may also lessen our grip on our images' future repurposing and reframing. Memory is not eradicated from digital multipurpose tools. Instead, the function of memory reappears in the networked, distributed nature of digital photographs, as most images are sent over the internet and stored in virtual space."

From "Digital photography: communication, identity, memory," José van Dijck, 2008

Dave P

about 8 years ago

Paul (Lundgren), that is basically the kitchen we have now. And my wife would kill for that outfit! Mom had style!

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