Crime Scene Photography

The Metropolitan Museum of Arts located at 1000 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was selected as the site for a critical analysis of the exhibition Crime Stories: Photography and Foul Play. This exhibition comprised of the fascinating art of photographing crime scenes to produce images that are both gruesome and thought-provoking. Crime scene photographers were involved in the difficult process of capturing the crime scenes and evidence for the purpose of prosecuting the perpetrators. Many of the photographs on display were used as evidence to capture some of the most horrific criminals. There were over 70 collections ranging from the 1850’s where the first mug shot was taken by the French, to present day crimes scenes. There were numerous images shot by French Photographer Alphonse Bertillon who was noted for creating the first mug shot which is now being used around the world. On

Amongst the collection was the documentation of the reward photo created by American photographer Alexander Gardner in 1865 for the arrest of the criminal masterminds behind the assassination of President Lincoln. The photos of the three criminals were taken before the crime and were used to enlist the public’s help to capture the criminals. The title for this image was Broadside for the Capture of John Wilkes Booth, John Surratt, and David Herold. The punishment for the crime was not death by the electric chair as one would hope but the criminals were captured after being shot by soldiers. The electric chair was invented in the 20th century and a photograph of the chair labeled Electric Chair, Sing Sing Prison NY 1900s-30s was displayed. The photographer, in this case, is unknown but the image of the electric chair was daunting. There were harness and tapes attached to the chair and one could only imagine the terror felt by the perpetrator as the