Chistyakova V.O. Amateur photography as object of microhistorical analysis

Abstract: The article examines the phenomenon of amateur photography at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century based on the example of N. M. Shchapov (1881–1960) and his work. The author puts forward the idea that amateur photography showcases very clearly the interrelations between the author of a photograph, the image made and the audience for which it was intended. The situation of “close vicinity” of the three named components provides grounds for the study of the phenomenon of amateur photography as a special practice that helped shape and support social connections within and outside a family group, and also constructed “collective family imagination” pertaining to the past. A photograph illustrates how the “personal chronology” of family members was formed and how the periodisation of family history was composed. The studied example of Shchapov’s work permits as well to demonstrate the details of how amateur photography transformed into photography with a familial status. As the study methodology the author applied the microhistorical approach. This approach allows to narrow the study scope and to examine a specific unique occurrence that reflects the more global social processes. Microhistorical studies assume minuteness and attention to details. Having analysed the details, the researcher can assess how one or another individual related himself to his wider community and how he interpreted his ties with it (the familial circle is the first of such communities). The novelty of this research consists in using for the first time the study of an individual’s amateur photography practice as the basis for the elucidation of temporal conceptions and social structures, unseen from the outside but which defined the relationship between the individual and his surroundings. The phenomenon of “family history” is analysed as the personal experience of the author of the amateur familial-genealogical reconstruction.

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