Haunting Photographs Or Absence Of Emotion?
As human beings we have the ability to control almost every aspect of our lives, the things we do, the things we say, what we choose to do for a living and so on, the one aspect in life that we cannot control is the indefinite continuation of time. Hence, the relationship we have with photographs, they allow us to hold a memory that “projects the past into the present"
“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
― Ted Grant, 1999
19th Century
Emotion
A wedding photograph should portray bliss and a beginning of another chapter in two peoples lives.
Modern
Day
An image of the arbitrators of the free church in Scotland where the image ought to portray amazing skill and reality,
A photograph of a youthful four year old which should portray a youthful and energetic life
A photograph of perished person which should portray misery and sadness yet rather than portraying these different feelings they some way or another all hold a frightful cryptic presence despite the fact that the conditions in every photograph vary.
Ted Grant who is widely regarded as the "father of photojournalism" once said “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”(Grant, 1999)
In these photographs it isn't the way that they are high contrast or black and white which cause us to feel this unpleasant presence, it is the discouraging and numb look on every individual face which make us nearly expect that in the nineteenth and twentieth century, human inclination and emotion just didn't exist and as people we comprehend that feelings make life important, and an existence where feelings don't exist, would make us detached from reality and feel that we are just some other biotic creature no different than the wild animals or an insects living along side us.
In outline, when we view these photographs on the left we see an unfeeling life connected with a paranormal, tormenting or mysterious being. However, when we look at the same photos but in the modern day we feel almost the exact opposite. This is not just caused by color, but rather the emotions depicted that make a photo "Haunting" or "Blissfull'.
