It’s not just about photographs. It’s about now and the past. Where they meet.
It’s also about sending beacons from the past (the photographs) out into the present to capture the past – to bring in the richness of the past. To find the participants of that past. That it doesn’t feel like it happened a long time ago – means that it’s not in the past – it’s here, right now.
What did Andy Warhol say in “From A to B and Back Again”? He said (and paraphrasing here – Mark has my copy – from a long way on the past – and therefore yesterday): when you meet someone you haven’t seen in in a long while, treat them (and in fact, behave) like you only just saw them yesterday.
If we all know this, it has to work, right?. Does it work if only half of us do it? Probably, yes. Is it not just that you can’t do anything but assume that this is how it is? If you don’t assume it / behave like it – it can’t happen? I don’t know.
So, that’s it then – work it like that’s it.
How about if it’s been 20 or so years? And you don’t recognise them? Hey, that’s probably even more reason to walk right on and carry on that conversation.
