The Art of photography

theyobviouslybelong

together.Strandlaterdescribedthemotheras

"that

pillarofserenestrength,"andthe

pictureitselfisfullofself-sufficientseren-

ity.Itisatableau,asartfullystagedasthegroups

ofmarble-whitelivingstat-

uarythat

used

tobeunveiledwithfanfareatthe

circus.Andlikethose

tableaux,

it

is

symbolic,representingaconceptthattranscendsthe

moment

atwhichthepicturewas

made.Itisrepletewithemblematicdetails—

facial

resemblances,barefeet,workclothes,

theutilitarianbicycle,thecrumbling

masonry—thatreinforcethebasicidea.

Whateverthismotherandhersons

weredoingbefore

Strandgatheredthemfortheportraitoutside

theirhome

inLuzzara,Italy,andwhatever

theydidwhenheletthemgo

theirways,this

familyiscapturedforeverto

representtheunityofmatriarchal

families.

Whiletimestandsstill,thesepeopleshare

in

a

kindofimmortality.

The

factthatStrandusedout-of-dateequipment

whenhetookthepictureis,

oddlyenough,relevantto

thesuspended-timepicture.

WhenStrandspokeof

theportrait,herecalledthat"the

photographwasmadewitha 5 x7-inch

Home

PortraitGraflex,purchasedin1931,

thatwasstillofunimpairedusefulnessto

me.The

lens,aDagor12-inch,wasstoppeddown

tof/32,probably."His ex-

posurewas

presumablyabout1/30second."The

Family"couldhavebeen

photographedinalmost

thesamemanneracenturyago,had

itexistedthen.In

theearlydaysofphotography,most

pictureswerecarefullyposed

inwaysthat

suspended

timesimplybecausetechnical

limitationsmadedifficultany

other

scheme.Itwas

possible—withskillandluck—to

freeze apeakinstantora

randommoment,but

suchpicturesdidnotbecomeeasyto

make,andthere-

foreattractivetoexperiment

with,untiltheadventoffast

filmsandsmallcam-

eras

inthiscentury.

Today

photographerscaneasilyseek,

oravoid,thearranged

momentof

suspendedtime,seek

oravoidthedecisive

moment,seekoravoidthe

ran-

dom,ordinarymoment.Few

restrictthemselvestoa

singleattitudetoward

time.

Thecomposed,static

intervalhasitsplace,ineverything

fromformal

portraitsto

stilllifes.Thedramaofthe

peakofactionwillalways

command

attention.And

offhand,fleetingglimpses

increasinglyfeedthemainstream

of

modernphotography.

Aphotographerneednot

makeanadvancechoice

among

theoptionsfordealing

withtime;hisconceptions

andfeelingsabouta

subjectcan

helphimdecidewhere

itistobeplacedin

time.