Snapping Shadows
Snapping Shadows
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.74
Throughout the history of snapshot photography, the unexpected appearance of the photographer’s shadow has evolved from flaw to focal point. Early manuals instructed users not to photograph into the sun, leading many to place themselves between their light source and subject matter and inadvertently capture their own profiles.
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.72
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.93
Over the course of the 1920s and 1930s, however, photographing one’s own shadow became a playful gesture that blurred the line between mistake and intention. As photo curator Sarah Kennel points out, the photographer’s shadow “insinuates the maker’s presence, and by proxy the act of photography itself, as the main subject of interest.”
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.78
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.76
Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.73