Lifeless

I think the most fascinating thing about 19th century photography that was common then, but not today is the post mortem photos/ daguerreotypes that parents would have taken of their dead child. This is probably the sweetest, yet most depressing concept. To have the image of your child preserved forever is something anyone would want to have, but to have that picture taken after they are already dead, laying there lifeless, with flowers in their hands, is something I don't think any parent today could stand to look at. I think this comments a lot on the times and how we view what a photograph means. Because of how easy it is to take a photograph these days, it is so momentary. It is a split second frozen in time and it usually capturing a joyous occasion that we want to remember. We capture our memories through a lens so often that we forget how lucky we are to have the ability to preserve our life moments so easily. It was not easy to preserve memories in photographs in the 19th century. It took a lot of hard work and it was a big production to have a portrait taken. This tells me that the parents of these children photographed post mortem would rather have a memory of their dead child than no memory at all. Maybe they were not able to have their child photographed while they were living? 

Underneath the post mortem daguerreotype is an example of today's photography and digital manipulation that was inspired by this style of 19th century photography. This series of child portraits is by a Russian photographer named Oleg Dou. He was inspired by the lifeless expressions of these deceased 19th century children. The animalistic manipulation comments on the trauma he had as a child, being forced to wear a rabbit suit to a party where he burst out in tears. Like the post mortem photos, this series showed a "grim perfection, pale complexion, and lifeless look." Check out the rest of these photos at http://www.dailyartfixx.com/2011/07/26/oleg-dou-photographyphoto-manipulation/

-Bri