The Importance of bad photography.

A day by the river. Cumbria, UK 1976

Never is a photograph more important than after the death of a loved one. Those forgotten family outings in the form of faded album snaps can suddenly become precious, although the idea of the family album has now been replaced with this thing called iPhoto.

It was this necessity of having a photograph of a loved one for the fear of forgetting them that drove the photography market back in the mid 1850’s. The only difference today is that those finely detailed mirrors with memory, the daguerreotype, have been replaced with digital screen savers.

After the death of my father, even as a photographer, I wish I had made more photographs of him, in particular more photographs of us together.

Of course, even without a photograph, we do not forget, but still, the importance of photography at helping us to remember has been with us for 180 years. What intrigues me is that this kind of photography never has to be considered any good. In fact it could be the worst image ever made because it’s all about content, and not the actual photograph. As long as it bares some form of resemblance, anything goes.

A photograph may fade or become lost, or a photographic moment missed, but the permanent record of loved ones will always be in our mind for as long as we can remember. Therefore, do we actually need photographs in the first place.