1st Version:
Dear Diary,
Today my mother and I decided to clean up the attic. While rummaging
through the dusty old boxes I found a photograph of my great-great-grandfather.
The photo was in its own case which surprised me. My mother told me that back
then taking photographs were something only well-off people could afford. I
then asked her to tell me more about photography at that time.
She started telling me about a photographer called Dagueree. Daguerree
accomplished a technique which uses ionised silver plates to take photos. Since
they weren’t sensitive to light they had a long exposure time and couldn’t be
copied. Due to the exposure time the photographer Hill took his photographs on
a cemetery. Both the cemetery as background as well as the unpopulated area
benefitted the process of photo taking.
In the first half of the 18th century, photography was seen
as blasphemous because humans were said to be made from God’s image and God’s
image can’t be captured by a machine. This seems like superstition but many
people, were afraid to look at the first photos because it seemed as if the
person in the picture was staring at them. Therefore the sentence “Don’t look
at the camera” became popular.
In the 1840s photography took over the portrait scene. Over the years
people liked photography more and more up to the point where studio photography
became popular, in 1860. For studio photography props were used for the people
to lean on, however the good taste suffered a lot.
Although the technology improved gradually through techniques such as
mezzotint, the society wanted the halo back. The halo originates from the
Daguerreotype and symbolised prestige and wealth. While halo was on vogue for
portraits a new style was developed through the improved techniques. This style
is called Surreal photography. Textures and tissues could be seen more clearly
which enabled photographers to concentrate on certain parts of objects.
During the time of industrialisation however, photography became
functional and didn’t show reality but how life should look like. Unemployment and underpayment weren’t shown;
instead photos of promising companies were taken.
My mother then said we should stop talking and go back to work. Although
I did what she said, I’ll make sure to talk with her about it more since I’m
really interested in photography.
Yours,
Miranda
[390Words]
Feedback:
My classmates told me that my narrative contains mainly of facts which
isn’t what a narrative is supposed to be. They tried to help me by telling that
I should try to write the text in a more personal way. Therefore I tried to
establish a personal connection to the story. They also pointed out some typos
which I didn’t find myself while reading through the text. In the re-written version I only included the
information that suited the setting of my narrative. I included more feelings
and thoughts so that the narrative focuses more on the main character.
2nd Version:
Dear Diary,
Today my mother and I decided to clean up the attic. While rummaging
through the dusty old boxes I found a photograph of my great-great-grandfather.
The photo was in its own case which surprised me. My mother told me that back then;
taking photographs was something only well-off people could afford. I then
asked her to tell me more about photography at that time.
She started telling me about a photographer called Dagueree. Daguerree
accomplished a technique which uses ionised silver plates to take photos. Since
they weren’t sensitive to light they had a long exposure time and couldn’t be
copied. It must have been really cool to have this “one of a kind” portrait of
yourself which nobody could ever copy but I wouldn’t have liked to stay still
for such a long time. The longest I ever had to wait for a photo was when I
used the old Polaroid camera my mom once had.
Mom also mentioned a very well-known photographer. His name was Hill and
he took his photographs on a cemetery because there weren’t many people passing
by. He reminds me of my friends Annette, she has always been weird and lately
she started posting photos of cemeteries on Tumblr.
While I am on the topic of weird photographs; the picture I found looked
really creepy as if the person in it was staring at me. When my mom saw me
looking at the photo she assured me that many people back then were afraid of photos
because they believed that the photographed person could see them. That’s why
they sentence “Don’t look at the camera” became popular.
When I asked how the photography’s development progressed we came to
talk about studio photography. After an explanation of what studio photography
was, namely shooting photos in a studio with many props, I was reminded of my
pictures when I was still a child. In these photos a lot of props were used
too, like cushions or colourful backgrounds. My mom only said, “That was when
the good taste suffered a lot”. After that time photography became really
functional and played a big role during the industrialisation.
My mother then said we should stop talking and go back to work. Although
I did what she said, I’ll make sure to talk with her about it more since I’m
really interested in photography.
Yours,
Miranda
[400 Words]
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