The History of Family Photography

"Jeremiah Gurney’s 'Woman and Child,' a daguerreotype with applied color from the 1850's."

Victorian Era Family photograph known as the "Lee Family Portrait," taken in 1891.

Family Photo taken by Christie Hobson Photography.

Family Photo taken by Olha Seniw Photography.

A creative modern family photo.

The Birth of Photography

Photography all started with a process called "daguerreotype," representing one of photography’s earliest forms. The daguerreotype process was introduced in 1839 as the first publicly announced photographic process and became commonly used in the early 1840's to the late 1850's. By the early 1860's, newer processes, which were less expensive and produced clearer images with shorter exposure times, had nearly fully replaced it. In 1829, a French artist and chemist  Louis Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, along with partner Niépce, shared a cutting edge camera design with their optician, who provided lenses for their invention. Ten years later, 1839 was marked as the year photography was officially born. Several years later, in 1846 photography made its way from Europe to the United States.

The Beginning of Family Photography 

Family photography's roots go as early as the beginning of these and photography itself. When family photography first started, it was to be taken in a tent that contained camera equipment, along with a portable dark room to process the photographic films. During the 1740's-1790's, in Europe, family portraits were posed against dominating, or solid color, backgrounds and often included larger families. During the Victorian Era a typical family photo would be in an indoor setting with family members unsmiling and connected only by the touch of the shoulder. Family photography started in the United States around the time of the Civil War (mid-1800's.) By the later eighteenth century the genre of family photography changed.

The Characteristics of Family Photography

The transformation from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century was an emotionally distant family to a compassionate and loving family. The development of technology played a major role on how photography changed by making it easier for photos to be taken. There are four main aspects of making a family portraits: the location of the photos, the position of the family members throughout the frame, the pose of the family members, and whether or not the family members are looking into the camera. There are also usually symbols found among family photography, an example of of a symbol can be what the family members are wearing and whether they match or not. Family photography is commonly conducted when a family is expecting or has a newborn child. Photography is usually taken for a specific point in that person(s) life and to visually freeze a time from their memories. In family photography the whole family is captured in a freeze moment; during that time the expression of the baby, as well as the other family members, play an important role. For a growing family, family photography can be used as a pictorial timeline. 

The Future and Importance of Family Photography

Photography has undergone many changes throughout its lifetime, and is likely to be manipulated in the next decade or so. Modern family portraits are made as works of arts, due to abundant amount of artistic individuality in today's photographers. Although amateur, family photography is demonstrated a lot throughout modern photo albums and scrapbooks. Family photography is important because it has a major role on the definition of  what the word  "family" really means. How a family photo looks likes can tell more than who's apart of that family; it can also tell history about how life was back when the first photo was taken.