Family photos – especially from childhood are… a recollection of the events that happened, the feelings you had, the thoughts you shared as a family. Positive or negative, photos will evoke how you truly felt at the time of taking.
Often they get neglected over the years. They lose significance, become forgotten about… but they never lose meaning. There may be times, you browse through your photoalbum, but the more the time goes by, the older you get, these moments captured on film may hurt. Often these photos just will be forgotten, photos may get trashed, photos may end up… somewhere. Private moments, personal moments, moments you want to keep, or perhaps moments you’d rather forget about completely. It’s fascinating really, how a few colors on a little rectangular sheet or slide can hold so much power. Memory, emotion, story. That’s the treasure of photos. They’re a time capsule to remind you of how you once were.
Some photos of this set are random 35 mm positive slides, collected over the time. People on there, do not have any names – unknown. It’s the randomness. Some are from my family collection. My own childhood. A more innocent and pure time. Looking at these pictures, it’s easy to remember the thoughts and aspirations I had as a young dancer. An open future, immeasurable potential… and a mind not yet poisoned by the world. An exciting time for a child, with a mind full of dreams, and a small body free to dance.
When these photos were taken, nobody thought they would eventually end up anywhere outside the slide box, surely not to be used for an art project. They were private, personal. For our family’s eyes only, really. The people in there are not anonymous, they do have names. And – although they probably don’t mean anything to anybody besides myself, they have a story.
A story of a nice childhood. Long ago. Many people in these photos passed away years ago. But remembered in these shots. I can remember the conversations I had with them. About the same wholesome dreams I had when I was a child. I remember laughing and playing with them, getting in trouble with the teacher for goofing around, then giggling about it together. Hugging them after our show was done. All of those childhood recollections unlocked from a few random pictures. Memories… isn’t that what photos are for.
These photos are random. Seemingly objectless. The idea was to use random shots, photos the model saw the first time, with the idea to get some scattered results. No limits, no form to follow… The only definition was christmas inspired. It’s interesting how others can view the same image and think and feel differently than the next. As I said, these pictures serve to me stories, remembrances, feelings I felt in the time of the photos. To an outsider, it’s just another random picture. Maybe it’s evoked some feelings, some thoughts out of them. Maybe they’ve created their own story about it in their mind. Or maybe it just means nothing to them.
Photos aren’t just photos, to look at. Photos are memories, keepsakes, if you are lucky as I am, you have a whole album of childhood photos your parents made for you. I have a childhoods worth of memories to carry with me through life because of it.
About the Model
Kaylee is 20 years living just outside of Chicago. Although her passion lies in ballroom dancing, modeling has quickly become a favorite outlet for her after trying it out in 2020.
About Thomas H.P. Jerusalem
Thomas H.P. Jerusalem of MUTE Photography is a Chicago based German photographer. His work has been published in the US and in international magazines including VOGUE Portugal, Italian VOGUE/PhotoVogue, PLAYBOY, L’OFFICIEL, FHM, ESTETICA, Dark Beauty, DODHO, Kaltblut and gallery represented with YELLOWKORNER and LemonFRAME.
His work includes street and streetstyle photography, dark romantic, high-fashion, avant-garde as well as vintage space-age and minimalism photography with an European touch. His models are often placed in surreal environments – devastated, displaced, out of the world. Their appearances eerie and edgy with rebel and punk influences. Often spiced with irony and sarcasm. But always with a strong meaning or statement. His photographs are strong and are telling stories. His portraits are capturing souls – not just faces. [Official Website]
