picturing society :: essays research papers

&65279In the article, Family Photograph Appreciation, Richard Chalfen discusses a teenage viewof the relation between family snapshots and home videos. He first explains the order ofpersonal photos using an example of natural or humanly coerced disasters and the mourning ofvisual traces of the past, or in other words, photographs. Family photographs are a very all important(p) aspect of peoples lives and without them we may never remember our past. Bylooking at snapshots, slides, home movies, etc, we stimulate our memory of important dates andevents. He asks many questions about memory and video verses photography which will bediscussed with teens he has interviewed.Chalfen has structured an exploratory project that asked a small sample of thirtyteenagers, living in the Cambridge/capital of Massachusetts areas of Massachusetts to evaluate the relative meritsof using still photography and/or videography as a preferred medium of family photography.(Richard Chalfen) He conducted the interviews with two teens at a time while having a meal in asmall restaurant. He was interested in their opinions on comparing photography andvideography, which came out to be very interesting.The teens explained to him about the effects of video tapes and how they were a path ofbeing in that respect all over again. Some of them felt it was more realistic than flipping through with(predicate) apicture album. Here we will introduce a few more of the theories made by teens during theirinterviews. Videotapes seem to supply the viewer with more discipline and makes it easy toremember. You get sound and movement to enhance the overall effect which brings you to seethe whole experience. In many interviews the teens did not feel that videos were the best way togo. By looking at photographs it set off a whole lot of memories, not just what happened play byplay like a home video. By looking at photographs you can use your imagination and over theyears the stories from one picture will grow and change. You dont have to think when youwatch videos but by looking at photographs you search your memory for the details. One girlexplained that she can look at photos over and over but watching a video will get boring after afew times. Perhaps we can conclude from this that there is a higher liking of still photographsover videography by most teens. They seem to be willing to put some work into collecting thisimportant information.To explain the difference, Chalfen discusses some examples, such as the two acting asmemory aids in their own significant way.