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For a long time now I have been a fan of "the every day" as represented in film. In the not too distant past the only way to have a visual representation of your or your family (let alone your surroundings) was to have an official portarit painted. It was an expensive thing to do. As a result it was mostly reserved for the wealthy.
Later, you could get a photography taken but these photos were largely posed in studios. While this was largely a byproduct of the technology, it was also a style that grew out of the centuries of painted portarits. It captured peoples faces and costume but with few exceptions they were staid and in the studio.
Some of the first painters to capture and popularize the depiction of "everyday life" and more importantly "common life" were the impressionists. They chose subjects like Women hanging laundry, men perusing the available merchandise at the ballet, etc.
Not too long after, photographer's like Eugene Aget and later Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassai and Wee-Gee (amongst others) started to capture scenes from the everyday world on film. What often gets forgotten is that around the turn of the century, the Kodak Brownie was released to the public... for the first time the general public had the ability to capture the everyday. They could document their own lives in a way that had never been really possible.
It was a boon to future historians.
While I certainly appreciate the beauty of a finely crafted photograph I still have a soft spot of the common snapshot. Sure most of the are "artless", they are used to capture a picture of a loved one or to remember a special occasion. They are everywhere. Nonetheless, they have become an important part of how we interact and how we remember. In some way I am not sure this is always a good thing (don't get me started) but in so many others, they are little unexpected treats.
So in the end, for me, it isn't really about whether or not we manage to capture some future Oscar winner. It is more important to me that we have captured ourselves. We have taken the means of production into our own hands and have made it our own... it's so very punk, when it comes down to it.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
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