Inscriptions

Walter Benjamin’s A Short History Of Photography—“ the expressive coherence due to the length of time the subject had to remain still’,says Orlick of early Photography,’ is the main reason why these photographs, apart from their simplicity, resemble well drawn or painted pictures…….”
This part made me remember a couple of class room photos of school kids I bought in Long Island , New York at a garage sale. The photos were quite old , maybe the 1930’s or 1940’s and all of the children look intesely serious , heavy , bordering on downright sad and pathetic. Not one was smiling or looked remoteley happy or playful. It did feel like a painting and the word substantial comes to mind. But maybe the old fashioned clothing had something to do with this as well.
Maybe this caption applies to these photos that I found. I believe that if I randomly picked 2 current classroom photos of school children; that they would have a much different feel to them than the old ones from Long Island.