Have you ever looked at old family photos from the Victorian Era and noticed how everyone seems to be a little blurry? This was because of the exposure time necessary for old cameras to capture the image, a person's natural body movement would lead to a blurry pic. Your camera would take the same kind of pic depending on your settings.
But have you ever noticed how sometimes one member of the family will be crystal clear as if they were dead still? That's because they are. These pictures were known as memento mori photographic portraits.
With the invention of the humble camera finally, the luxury of a family portrait was affordable for the everyman. Immortalising your families image for years to come. Even after you're dead and gone.
Unheard of now but in Victorian England, it was common for families to get one last photo with a loved one after they have passed. With the Victorian Era full of gruesome ways to die, disease cases were at a high and a shot of cocaine and a bit of bloodletting couldn't stop the bodies piling up.
Death became part of the British culture, as in 1861 a widowed Queen made morning fashionable, as she wore her elegant black dresses. Jewellery reminding you of your morality became the must-have accessory and the demand for post-death portraits grew.
There was beauty in death. To remain young forever was the dream and in a way, death fulfilled that wish. As such, people would gather their family to capture their final moments together, capture the frozen beauty of a fair maiden, elegantly reclining in her chair or a baby boy playing with his favourite toy for the last time.
Even celebrities and royalty engaged in the trend, with author Edgar Allan Poe and King Ludwig of Bavaria.
Luckily, with the improvements in health care and technology, we have more time and opportunities to be in front of a camera and make some memories for our family to look back on. Something I'm very happy about, don't think I would want to get into photography if it meant taking a few memento mori photographic portraits.
Hope you guys found this interesting, even if it is a bit morbid.
I'll be posting new pics from a couple of shoots soon. I've been working with a couple of great, alive models, so check my social page for that.
Thanks for reading,
Thomas Jackson
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