BELFAST — Whether it’s a carefully framed photograph professionally taken in the late 19th century or a casual selfie snapped by an amateur, there are clues inside each family’s box of snapshots that tell more of the story than what initially meets the eye.

Retired Beloit College photography professor and Swanville resident Michael Simon recently guest curated an exhibit for Penobscot Marine Museum titled “The Evolution of the Photographic Snapshot.” With the help of two Penobscot Marine Museum employees who run the photography collection, Kevin Johnson and Matt Wheeler, Simon assembled a series of snapshot photographs ranging from 1890 to 1970s in order to provide the larger context to the smallest of details.

Ever since Eastman Kodak Company introduced the first snapshot camera in 1888, snapshots have become “extensions to memory, storing images we’d rather not forget,” said Simon.

He equates every snapshot is like a game of Scrabble.

“With the game, you take individual letters, which form words and sentences and ultimately concepts,” he explained. “With photos, you see pieces initially, for example, a person in the photograph, what he or she is wearing, perhaps a car in the background or a buggy and your mind fills in the backstory.” Simon selected five snapshots in this exhibit hosted by the Belfast Public Library to explain what particular elements in each one make up the larger story.

Courting In A Carriage

Out of all of the photos in this exhibit, this is the only one Simon has any personal connection to. The well-dressed gentleman and his lady, in a white dress, sitting in a buggy, happen to be his wife’s grandfather and grandmother. “They courted around 1900,” he said. What you’re seeing in this photo by their formal dress and stiff posture is the way people of a certain class interacted in that time.

“He was a rather successful farmer in north central Illinois,” said Simon. “The carriage shows us he was well to do; not everyone had a carriage in those days. As they sat there, not touching and looking at the photographer, they did not know what the years ahead of them would bring. But, it is tempting to surmise that they looked out of the frame with optimism and hope, as any young courting couple on a date would.”

The Wicked Witch of The West

Though the woman in this photograph may look like the famous character from The Wizard of Oz, it’s evident to the experienced photographer’s eye that she is, in fact, a widow in 1900 garb. That in itself, provides the first intrigue. Standing in front of a stately house indicates the house is hers; and another piece to this puzzle is that the large house suggests she comes from wealth, yet the dirt curved driveway in those days did not indicate poverty as it would to us today.

“Times change and nearly every snapshot talks about values. You’ll see this in every family snapshot. Possessions such as houses and vehicles are important, which is why people took photographs of them,” said Simon.

Two Women, One Man and a Model A

The three people in this photo, are at first a mystery. Then the clues start rolling in. They are dressed in 1920s attire with the Model A in the background. The woman in glasses and the man in the center are holding hands, so they are likely husband and wife. Notice the casual way they hold hands, comparatively to 20 years earlier, when it might have been unseemly to show affection in that way while courting in a buggy.

“The way they stand is not nearly as formal as the courting photo,” he said. “And of course, the interaction between all three begs more questions. Who is the girl on the right? Is she a sister-in-law? She has a certain ‘It’ factor in her expression and stance that shows she is more self-confident than the other two. The way she holds herself indicates she thinks of herself as an individual, while the other two just melt into the background.”

Life Imitates Art

This photo is from the 1940s and there are many tell-tale signs to glean from it that show how different society was from just 20 years earlier. “They are likely mother and daughter,” said Simon. “The style of their clothes and the way the girl gives a teasing look, the innocent exposure of a knee suggests that this snapshot is from the era when images from cinema and magazines held more sway over public consciousness than from the television screen.”

Girl With Cracker

This photo, is perhaps, the most compelling of the entire series, for both its technical qualities and its content. “In 1963, the Eastman Kodak Company introduced the Instamatic, an easy-load, inexpensive plastic camera for which color or black-and-white film came pre-loaded in a cartridge,” said Simon. “The camera’s optics also allowed the photographer to get much closer to the subject than earlier equipment had allowed. The content is very much like all the others. People took photos of their friends and family.”

But the way the flash cube illuminates her, Simon said, “She looks like an angel. It’s easy to tell by her haircut, clothes and that Ritz cracker, that the photographer found the little girl adorable.”

The Belfast Public Library has taken this exhibit down, but all of the photos and their comments can still be viewed by visiting the Penobscot Marine Museum at The Evolution of the Photographic Snapshot. 

Reach Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com.