(I found some analog VCR recordings of original digital recordings – it was enough to tweak my memory)

There is something about a photographic pictorial record that fascinates me. Not just the family snapshots, but historical photographs as well. Each photograph is a time machine. They are so thought provoking, that I once wrote a short story about a reflection from a shiny fender of a 1930 automobile that my mother was perched on. I thought that, with modern techniques, the detective character would be able to enhance and un-distort the reflection to reveal the photographer, who was really a long lost relative, etc, etc. Inspiring and thought provoking indeed!

Personal images

One aspect of family snapshots and home movies that is absent from historical pictures is direct memory of the event. The images below were taken by a friend of mine at a special visit to my photography show, ‘Brotherly Love’, in New York City in 1995. This show arose from my efforts to connect with my older autistic brother. My recollections were stimulated by the video, but since I was not the one looking through the camera lens, my mind’s-eye images are not in conflict with what I saw on the screen. It is as if two memories exist at the same time.

Mike at my show

The visit by my brother Mike and his housemates to my show was very chaotic. Some of them recognized their own pictures. Some of them liked the springiness of the wooden floor and were content to bounce up and down. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more coverage of Mike, but in the screen shots below he seemed to greet me with one of his barks and took my hand.

 The photo in the background pictures some of Mike’s housemates in the dining room of their group home.

I guess he wanted to leave, since he led me to the door. The rest of the group followed. I tried to get some of them to sign the guest book to no avail.