Perspective… filtered through the media lens

John V Willshire on November 10, 2009

The perception we always have of the beginning of the 20th century is very much framed by the way in which we see it recalled through the media used to capture it.

So by and large if you think about the 1920s, you’ll start thinking in black and white, stuttery images… it’s hard to think of it being a time when people even lived in colour.

Which makes this colour of London in 1927 fascinating… it’s a weird juxtaposition of the clothing, transport and the like we know is of the period, but it clashes with our perception of that world being ‘black and white’.

(via Schmutizie)

And it works the other way around too.  There’s an iPhone app called Camera Bag which allows you to add a filter on top of your digital photos to give them a more earthy, dated feel.

For instance, here’s a shot of my Dad and James sleeping on the sofa…

 

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…and here’s the same shot but using the ‘1974’ filter…

 

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…which now, to me, makes it much more of an evocative ‘family’ shot… probably because I’m used to thinking about the boxes of old seventies & eighties photos that make up the photographic records of my childhood… bleachy, harsh colours, and little white frames around the edge and the like.

I wonder what we’ll look back and think of this era as, photograph & film wise?

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