Read recently an article by Alexandra Rain in the April 2023 issue of Deseret Magazine and was fascinated by her ideas. I quote from her article:
“The urge to document our lives is
not new,” Rain wrote. “Humans have been documenting themselves for as long as
we’ve had the ability to do so. The first known “selfie” dates to about 40,000
years ago when a person pressed their hand to a cave wall and sloshed it in red
paint. A more modern “selfie” is “Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk,” drawn on
paper by Leonardo DaVinci in 1510. Across the millennia, we have painted
ourselves, carved likenesses of ourselves and sculpted ourselves.”
“In 1839, a Parisian named Louis
DaGuerre invented a technique that would hand self-portraits over to the
masses. The daguerreotype captured images on a device that could be carried
anywhere. After World War II, 35mm cameras became accessible to ordinary
families. A decade later, disposable point-and-shoot camera were the rage.
Camera sales grew until 2010 when more than 120-million were sold globally.”
“Camera phone changed the game. There
are now an estimated 1.5-billion iPhone owners worldwide (documenting
themselves)! We post baby pictures, graduation pictures, wedding pictures and even
our meals. (And certainly our gardens, pets and travels!!) “
“So why do we all want to record our
own images? Quoting Joe Marotta, a photog and emeritus art professor at the
University of Utah, who quoted Louis DaGuerre as saying, “Now my immortality is
guaranteed.” Meaning he would be remembered and relevant beyond his time on
earth. Marotta said, “The photograph in a sense extends our mortality.”
“Grandmas who did scrapbooks of
photos and beg the indulgence of grandchildren to sit and learn, didn’t do it
for herself,” wrote Rain,” but for the living so we can remember.”
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