16 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
STRAIGHT SHOOTER
AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL JULY 2015Darran LealABOVE &
OPPOSITE
Images of our family
history gain value
the longer they are
retained. In many
ways these photos
are counterintuitive
to the modern
phenomena of
“selfie” images,
which carry instant
impact and can
often be forgotten
soon afterwards.A major health scare for Darran Leal got him
thinking about how important photographs
are in recording our family history.I
’d never seen these images from
my mother’s side of the family
until a couple of years ago. I’m not
sure who they are yet and I am not
even sure who took the photo. But when
I saw them a couple of key points were
triggered in my mind about photography
and our society:- Our craft is a creative medium to explore,
enjoy and perhaps share with others; - It’s also a medium to record, archive
and cherish important events,
capturing moments in time which
happen in the world around us.
I think it’s fantastic these people took
time to be photographed (it would have
been expensive back then) and even better
that they made a print from the negative.
But of greater importance is the fact that
my great grandmother and her daughter
(my grandmother) then stored the images
for decades, bringing them out
occasionally to show the family and no
doubt, to help rekindle memories for
themselves. I remember my grandmother’s
stories of the family and her days as a
young girl. Her mum told her stories about
the ladies in these shots. From these
images, it looks like they were shot in the
late 1800s. Have you got old photos in
your family? Are they stored well? And are
they scanned and stored on two separate
digital storage devices, or perhaps in
one of those modern archival quality
self-published books? Our ancestry –
our history – is such a fascinating part
of our lives, and photography plays a large
role in that.
I have wanted to follow up my family
tree for many years. Unfortunately it took
a recent stroke and a heart operation to
inspire some action. I had none of the
common traits or problems associated
with a stroke, so it was a bit of a shock for
everyone. I was fit and healthy. But with
around 50 f lights every year as part of
our travel and photography business,
I got DVT (Deep Vain Thrombosis).I also had a hole in my heart (one
in four people apparently have this
issue) which allowed clots to develop
in my brain. The clots should have
been filtered by my lungs, except for
that damned hole! Fortunately, a heart
operation in February proved to be a
success and I’m now back, planning
yet more adventures. I have few regrets
in life, but one is that I should have
used my photography skills earlier for
archiving and recording our family line.
If you have such an interest, I hope this
motivates you to start scanning, shooting
and printing. Ask other family members
for all your old photos. You’ll be amazed
at what comes out of the woodwork!
As was reinforced to me, your legacy to
the extended family after putting these
images together will live on, well after
you are gone.
Shoot creatively... ❂Darran and Julia Leal and their company
World Photo Adventures, are celebrating
26 years of photo tours around the world.
If you’re interested in professionally guided
photo tours in a small group, and in
experiencing unique photo adventures, go
to: http://www.worldphotoadventures.com.auFamily
History
WEB: SEE MORE OF
DARRAN’S WORK AT
THE WORLD PHOTO
ADVENTURES WEBSITE.