Page 105 - Consuming Media

01Consuming Media 10/4/07 11:17 am Page 92

92 Consuming Media

Within the framework of the shops selling pictures we found a fixed repertoire of
available images and products available, seemingly allowing little room for variation
and individual choice. Individualized service was the exception, confined to a limited
range of products and, in the case of the centrally located photographic shop, was
reserved for the professional male customer. Despite a broad definition of their
customer population circle, we found that the majority of consumers in these shops
were women. Let us turn now to a closer examination of the patterns that charac-
terize these vernacular forms of image consumption, of photography, cards and
prints.

MOBILE PICTURES
Challenging the relative constraints on image consumption imposed by the shops,
people developed ways to personalize their image use. In their pictures, we found few
of the strict conventions seen in images displayed in the photographic shops. The
ways people displayed and used the pictures they had made or purchased did not
always follow the marketing framework. We found people who combined purchased
prints, children’s drawings and their own photographs on the walls of their homes,
others who had mounted all the greetings cards they had received in albums, people
who refused to purchase pre-printed cards, preferring instead to pen a greeting on
one of their own photographs to send to a friend. We found networks of image
exchange that were highly personal and individual, often interwoven with other
media in innovative communication forms. Image consumption was inextricably
intertwined with production of individual and social meanings and identities, as
pictures moved from their point of purchase, out into communication flows among
family and friends.
The themes and occasions documented by the amateur or vernacular photog-
rapher are well known: family and friends, particularly on special occasions such as
birthdays, Christmas celebrations and holiday trips. These photographs often have a
social, communicative use, which we will return to shortly. What is less understood
is the ways these images are used in individual narratives and histories, and as means
of reworking or negotiating personal identities. One particularly active photographer,
in addition to the customary photographic occasions, took pictures of her own paint-
ings and handicrafts, and how she displayed them in her home as a way of charting
changes in her personal life and work. She also took pictures of public places that she
knew would be changing over the years. These private and public subjects together
became a means of reflecting upon her personal life in relation to the history
unfolding around her.
Making, taking and collecting images is described by some people as giving
pleasure in itself, regardless of what they plan to do with the images. The pleasure
associated with acquiring pictures of specific subjects was mentioned by many of
our subjects. A particular desire to photograph flowers, or being drawn to images
that show sharp contrasts, were two examples. Another was the woman who had
started collecting small reproductions by Marjolein Bastin, a Netherlands artist