Our Photographs, Old and New

Abstract

Private and family photographs are our most personal images taken at significant events of our lives. We used to put these photos into albums or just kept them in boxes without specific orders, and we only opened up these personal archives when we wanted to share our memories and stories with family members or close friends. These common habits regarding how we take and share private photos have changed a lot due to the digital turn, the increasing number of digital cameras, and the broadening usage of the Internet and social media platforms. Archives are often places of safeguarding memories, places that make us remember and places of preservation. However, in recent years, the questions related to them and the archiving methods are mostly focused on how digitization has transformed them. The varying ways and effects of technical image usage caused by the technological boom are some of the most characteristic and defining elements of our times. In my paper titled Our Photographs, Old and New, I examine — through a contemporary artwork by Gergely Barcza — how private photography practices and private photo archives have changed in the last decades.