Photography and Celebrity

Introduction

“It is hard to imagine that we would be as fascinated with celebrity as we now are if photography had never been invented” - Sarah Greenough, curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art (quoted from article by Marianne Szegedy-Maszak).  There are striking similarities and connections from photography’s beginnings to the digital giants of today, exploring the impact of capturing of images and their effect on fame.

The Beginning

Upon its invention, photography was quickly popular for its ability to capture reality in less time than it took to paint a portrait.  Early photographic portraits, notably Daguerreotypes, while less expensive than commissioning a painting, where still luxuries, one-of-a-kind items documenting special occasions.  It was not until 1854, with the blazing popularity and mass production of the carte-de-visite format (thanks to Disderi) that portraiture was truly no longer an elite luxury, but an easily dispersed and excitedly collected commodity.

Some smart actors and social characters used this opportunity to catapult themselves into celebrity.  In the Szegedy-Maszak’s article, she highlights Adah Isaacs Menken as a 19th-century actress who used the carte-de-visite to increase her fame, or should I say, her infamy.  Even the more scandalous images of giving her boxer husband a black eye, or sitting on the lap of a jacket-less Alexandre Dumas were in high demand by the Paris public.   In the same way that “religious icons create a direct connection with a saint,” collectible photographs and carte-de-visite create a specific intimacy with the famous.  (Szegedy-Maszak, 2007).  Photography allowed access, and the ability for everyone to own a piece of a famous figure that previously could only be admired abstractly from afar.  

The Narrative

Journalists know better than anyone that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Storytelling using language alone can only reach so far into the hearts and imaginations of the readers.  So while “technology made celebrity a mass commodity,” such as the invention of the carte-de-visite format, “photography also added a narrative element to the lives of the famous” (Szegedy-Maszak, 2007).  Adah Isaacs Menken’s story would hardly be so interesting without the visible, flirtatious body language between her and Dumas, captured on film.  Let’s explore this idea by jumping ahead to present day.  Within the last year Facebook released a feature called “A Look Back” which is an automatically generated video slideshow of your photos and posts since you created your account.  This Look Back is undoubtedly a narrative, a story telling device, but it is not a written summary or read aloud like a radio show: it is a series of photographs.  Why?  Because photography captures emotion and detail that tell a story beyond the grasp of words.  

Everyone Gets 15 Minutes

Andy Warhol had a well-known quote that “in the future, everyone will have fifteen minutes of fame.”  Thanks to the age of digital photography and digital image managing, I think Warhol’s quote has come to light.  The ease of photography gave us a taste for our own fame.  Even as early as Kodak snapshots and Polaroids, photography aided in catching a moment in time and packaging it to be hung up, collected, and shared.  As the digital world expands our network of friends and acquaintances, it is even easier to share images and to gain attention and fame.  To some, this micro-celebrity, this fame among your friends is greatly desired, perhaps not unlike the urge felt by Adah Isaacs Menken when she sat for so many carte-de-visite sessions.  

Collecting carte-de-visite was very fashionable in its time, with photography studios cranking out favorite celebrities and even selling special albums to hold the cards.  Today digitally collecting images is easier than ever: liking them on Facebook, tagging them in Flickr, or following an actual celebrity’s account on Instagram and Twitter.  Today everything is photographed: your face, your cat, your dinner, and everyone is expected to look and to comment.  In the article, “The Impersonal Album: Chronicling Life in the Digital Age” J. Macneill Miller sees this perpetually uploading process as the building of a larger digital, aggregate album, collecting every image together to form your unique narrative.  Miller adds, “the end result is a constant work-in-progress.”  

Conclusion

Thanks to photography, I can frame a picture of my favorite member of the Beatles and hang it up on the wall of my home.  Thanks to photography and technology, I can see what Benedict Cumberbatch wore at the airport yesterday and reblog it to all my digital friends on Tumblr.  Photography and technology have changed the world’s access to the very famous and given out additional fame to anyone with a smartphone or a computer, feeding our fascination with infamous characters and celebrities and how we might obtain a similar status ourselves. 

(Alexandra Winzeler, Photographic Archives, Boston 2014)

References

Miller, J. Macneill.  (2007).  The Impersonal Album: Chronicling Life in the Digital Age.  Afterimage. 35(2). 9-12.

Plunkett, John. (2003).  Celebrity and Community: The Poetics of the Carte-De-Visite.  Journal of Victorian Culture.  8(1).  

Szegedy-Maszak, Marianne.  (2001).  In Love With a Famous Stranger.  U.S. News & World Report. 131(2) 66-69.