Blog #1

Blog #1: Imagine a world without photographs. Describe what this world would be like?

My friends house started on fire last week. It was just a chimney fire so don't worry, no one was injured and the damage was minimal. However, one of his statements during his story really got me to think. He told me that his father requested that each member of the family go back inside one last time (just in case the house did burn to ashes) so that they could grab a few things out of the house that were really important to them. While my friends sister ran inside and grabbed the most idealistic and financially invested objects (ie the computer and TV) my friend grabbed as many photo albums as he could fit in his arms.

Why photo albums? Why didn't he grab his iPod or laptop?

Because photographs are physical memories and without them history is visually forgotten (unless someone has photographic memory). If there were no such things as photographs, we wouldn't know what we looked like as a child, we may not remember our wedding or birthdays or Christmas's. Without photographs, there would be no such thing as Facebook, textbooks would be excruciating, and yearbooks-nonexistent. Photographs, however simplistic they may seem and how ancient the invention, serve as chronological organizers for our lives, for our ancestors lives (if they lived in a time of photographs) and can evoke deep emotions that no other piece of paper can compare to.

A world without photographs would be one dull world. I couldn't imagine a more boring world. Thankfully, photographs DO exist.