Photographs are more than just memories . . .

I love still photography, which is why you will not find videos of family events in my home.  But in addiiton to providing memories, photographs also bring history to its future, as here:

In almost every picture #7 tells the story of a Dutch woman whose life is seen from the point of view of a fairground shooting gallery.


The chronological series begins in 1936, when a 16-year-old girl from Tilburg in Holland picks up a gun and shoots at the target in a shooting gallery. Every time she hits the target, it triggers the shutter of a camera and a portrait of the girl in firing pose is taken and given as a prize.

And so a lifelong love affair with the shooting gallery begins. This series documents almost every year of the woman's life (there is a conspicuous pause from 1939 to 1945) up until present times.

It is amazing that the shooting gallery is still in existence.  It is amazing still that Ria van Dijk is still going to the shooting gallery for her picture - which, to add to the wonder of this, comes only when she hits the target.

Tomorrow I have to bring an external hard drive to a data recovery center to retrieve what would be years of pictures.  Lat Friday night, I cried for about three hours, mourning what could be their loss.  Fortunately, a number of friends who have gone through this assure me that a burnt out power source or motor usually does not mean a loss of data on the actual drive.  But the thought of losing my history was simply overwhelming.  I have often said, my photography is my therapy.  I went through a loss recently and if this, too, is lost, it will be hard to deal with both at the same time.

 

I should have backed up more.  I should be more disciplined in my storage.  I will be after this.  But I am willing to pay whatever it takes to make sure I have those photos. 

 

Because photographs are more than just memories.  I look back on the photographs I have of my parents in their younger days.  They delight me because they are my parents, yes, but old photographs provide a defense against revisionism, when people want to forget or erase the past due to anger or resentment or apathy.  Photographs serve to say, "No, this is how it was," even if that brings feelings of guilt or regret or sadness - because they also bring nostalgia and comfort and validation.  I am glad they did not wind up with my sister - while I have no doubt she loved our parents, I would be afraid with her state of mind that a point could come where she would destroy the pictures, to make the past and all that it evokes go away. 

 

Never hide the past, because when you do, you are destroying a piece of yourself.

 

Today I pray for the continued health of Ria van Dijk .