Overview

Snapshot Versions of Life is an important foray into the culture of photography and home life from an anthropologist's perspective. Examining what he calls ""Home Mode"" photography, Richard Chalfen explores snapshots, slide shows, family albums, home movies, and home videos, uncovering what people do with their photos as well as what their personal photos do for them. Chalfen's ""Polaroid People"" are recognizable--if ironically viewed--relatives, uncles, aunts, and All-American kids. As members of ""Kodak Culture"" they watch home movies, take pictures of newborn babies, and even, in their darker moments, scratch out the faces of disliked relatives in group photographs. He examines who shoots these photos and why, as well as how they think (or don't) of planning, editing, and exhibiting their shots. Chalfen's analysis reveals the culturally structured behavior underlying seemingly spontaneous photographic activities.

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Those who work under other of the encompassing rubrics that<br> dominate intellectual discussion today, and neglect what<br> cannot be written down (discourse, ethnomethodology...<br> hermeneutics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics), could benefit<br> from this book and carry it further by following up the leads<br> into verbal communication. ... [A] valuable contribution to the<br> ethnography of communication. --Dell Hymes, Language in<br> Society

Chalfen's work does represent an important contribution to<br> the analysis of visual communication. --Stacy Rowe, SVA<br> [Society of Visual Anthropology] Newsletter<br> <br>

Author Information

Richard Chalfen is professor emeritus of anthropology at Temple University and past president of the Society of Visual Anthropology. He is senior scientist at the Center in Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. His publications include Turning Leaves and many widely cited articles.

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