After the invention and popularity gained by photography through a simple box we call a camera, there was an unavoidable rush into mass producing photo prints. But it did not take place over night. With the arrival of cameras, our lives have been indelibly changed, as now we are capable of recording for posterity personal histories and our progress (or regression!) over the course of decades.

It is said that each picture speaks for itself and that a picture is worth a thousand words. For example, snapshots and film taken in the midst of war and political turmoil have a great impact on people around the world. Additionally, the very concept of privacy has been challenged and altered with the recording of public figures as well as the average “Joe” on the street. Cameras are used to capture almost any type of event, including as proof of events that might otherwise be dismissed with skepticism. (Consider, for example, crimes captured on film but nowhere else.) Read the rest of this entry »