THE DAY THEY KILLED TIME

On a sunny day in 1835, William Talbott placed a series of little boxes around his garden. "An hour later I gathered them up, opened them, and found in each a miniature picture of the objects before which I had placed them."

That was the day we killed time. From now on, the passing world could be stopped and preserved for all posterity. Until then, the ways man tried to achieve immortality -- from the paintings of kings to the pyramids of Egypt -- could in time fade. However, now even the smile of the common man could be passed on, in silver chloride effigy, from child's hand to child's hand down through the years. Photography had been born!

Today we can seize and freeze time with photographs, films, and video. This way no one -- like Alexander, Jesus or Napoleon -- can ever again be lost from our sight. Only....

....only we may have created a troubling irony. For now, all too often, we embrace the image but lose sight of the reality. Say like we do with our favorite stars of the screen. Up there, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Goldie Hawn and Ann Margaret look exactly like they should. But to see them now -- what happened?

Time happened. To them and to us. In fact this is what happens to the even more important images we hold dear. The bold American GI of WWII...John F Kennedy exhorting us to do for our country...Woodstock as a generational love-in...Nixon as the demon-president...the Beatles young and together....the 9/11 firefighters strong and noble.

If perception is reality, consider the hundreds of photographic perceptions we carry with us as individuals. As families. As nations. Whoever owns these images owns the world. Which is why camera crews fight to get the perfect shot, from Dallas to Cairo....why the media then shares these shots with billions...why each of us finds our self moved to tears or courage or war from such images.

Mr Talbott opened a great and glorious world to us all. But like all new worlds, it's alive with as many dangers as dreams. Hence the wisdom -- always take a second look. Which incidentally happens to be the name of a blogsite I know >> http://www.takingasecondlook.blogspot.com/