I begin with the apparatus of memory itself. What if this space is (one of many?) under threat, partly because digital databases and artefact-based archives offer different types of permanence, openness or accessibility? If this is so, it begs the question: what did photography do for memory and what contribution has photography made to the practice of memory in human culture? Has photography affected or changed the constitution of individual or collective memory, in what way, what are its effects, on whose memories, how and why? To address such questions I want to start somewhere else, so as to return to photography differently. In domestic culture, photography conventionally has a place as a time machine, a device for remembering. If we see these new repositories as a type of “memory bank”, complemented by the many devices designed to provide inputs to them like camera phones (and, of course, the computers and hard disks that support them, which are types of archives in themselves), then we have to ask what relation do these instruments have to existing notions of memory and photography? Is this why interest in the archive and memory is so current? Or is it also to do with the multitude of archives, whether commercial like Getty and corporate institutions or state-owned collections, museums, public-lending libraries, private family attics, artists' estates and so on, which is creating an unease about archives and potential memories? As embodied in the title of his little book Archive Fever, Jacques Derrida notes that an anxiety about memory always has an element of death or “destruction drive”, “of loss” at work in it (9).Ĭertainly, new photo-archiving software programmes like Aperture, i-Photo, i-View, and Lightroom have accelerated the issue of how to archive photographic images and what to do with them once deposited. ![]() ![]() As “photography” mutates into its digital double (like a sister or brother) whose system operates in a different way and is still in the process of re-definition, what we thought photography was, is and will be remains in flux. They captured the lighting beautifully!!! We are thrilled with the results and truly happy we met such great people like Laura and Drew in this process.Some may detect in the title of this paper an ambiguity between the memory of photography as a technology that is “outmoded”, past its sell-by date, and photography as an “aide-memoire” machine to the human memory process of remembering. After getting the photos back it seemed like they were everywhere at once but I never even noticed them! Amazing! And when we got the final photos!!!! We loved them! They are so beautiful. Throughout the night they were helping, checking if we needed anything, always were getting the photos. We aren’t used to being in front of the camera but Laura and Drew made us feel so comfortable, and gave us guidance when we didn’t know what to do. ![]() So fun to be around! And sooooo helpful! From the first time I talked to Laura she was responsive, enthusiastic, and really down to earth! We totally clicked! She has a great planning process and questionnaire sheet to ensure that we got all the photographs that we wanted on our day and we wouldn’t have to be thinking about anything during the process. ![]() "Laura and Drew were awesome! They were so easy to get along with.
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