Reflections on The New Yorker and the "Secret Art of the Family Photo"

I'm a long time reader of The New Yorker magazine. As I have been recently working to launch my new documentary-style photography business, I was thrilled to see this week's article "The Secret Art of the Family Photo," by Michael Johnston. Absolute perfect timing for me, as I've been thinking a lot about family photos lately -- their significance, what makes them truly priceless -- as I seek to articulate the value proposition of my new business to others. I am so passionate about the importance of "documenting the everyday" that I can get sometimes get tongue tied in the moment.

While the article covers a lot of interesting ground, there are a few small gems that really resonated to me. He writes, "portraits...imply relationships, and so the meanings of our family pictures shift as family age, change, and regenerate." This is exactly why I am so passionate about capturing the fleeting moments of my family and why I evangelize this idea to my clients. We can't rewind time to capture what we missed. We can only stop time now and document it for the future, to cherish to laugh to cry -- to feel whatever feeling the picture evokes -- and to remember.

He goes on to say that "with each passing day, recent pictures gradually become historical." You can stop time in a moment and preserve it, but your perspective on that moment will evolve and develop as time itself marches on, informing new perspective and circumstances on the photograph. In this way, it becomes an active interaction with the past.

Finally, he writes "most photographs you come across have stories..." This is the point that I love most about documentary style photography -- capturing the stories in everyday life, often small details or moments -- that we will otherwise forget over time. But I find that these everyday stories become increasingly important over time as memory fades and people inevitably grow and change. You can find a universe within small details.

I recommend reading Michael Johnston's full article if you have the time -- it gave me a lot of food for thought and also hit on a few points that helped put the work I do in this business into sharp and loving focus.