Forensic Photography Essay

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In this essay, modernity will be discussed using photography as a vessel to explain modernity as a frame of mind in the 19th century. In this time the obsession with science and the need to universalize was evident, a move away from the church and place man in the center of the known universe. At this time the industrial revolution brought about other changes, and the classification and documentation of people began and we can see examples of this is forensic photography. Another thing the industrial revolution brought was mass production and advertising, Products needed to be sold and with the help of the camera the concept of glamour was created, celebrities on pictures around you would tell you if you owned these products your life would …show more content…

He captured photographs of different types of modern people. We can see that his was the beginning of the notion of understanding class, profession, race, ethnicity and other constructs of identity (Sander, See image 2). Forensic Photography serves the purposes of identifying and documenting individuals suspected or convicted of committing crimes. Before the rise of the camera people had little way of identifying these individuals (Lenmen & Nicholson, 2005:34). This forensic documentation of people is significant because it shows the need for accuracy. Leaders of countries began counting and collecting information about their citizens which shows a change in mindset, a change from a previous way of conducting order in countries. People's preference of the camera came from their belief that the camera couldn't lie, the photograph produced was replicating what was in front of it. This is what made the camera so popular. During this time government would hire professional photographers to take posed portraits of the criminals. This form of photography had never been seen because, it was the first evidence of the mug shot used today as discussed by the Economist (Unknown,1998:Online) (Bertillon,Image 3.) What followed was documentation of a different kind with the rise of

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