Twins Born a Generation Apart
When this project was first introduced, I immediately felt concerned about finding a family picture that would be intriguing enough to research about. What I did know is that I wanted to find a photograph of one of my grandparents. I felt compelled to choose one of my four grandparents because they are no longer alive. I never met either of my grandfathers, they both passed away before I was born and both my grandmothers just recently passed away in the past five years. I really wanted to take this opportunity to find out a little bit more about one of them.
This was going to be a difficult task within its self. My mother’s family grew up poor and moved several times throughout her childhood so I didn’t think that I was going to find an adequate photograph to research. Not to mention the fact that my mother is the second youngest of seven children and most likely doesn’t have many photos of her parents. The other problem that I faced was my father’s family, although they lived in the same house for most of his childhood, did end up losing a lot of their family possessions when their house was sold. Even now, my family has our photo albums in a storage bin in the basement from moving and other family situations so I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task to find a photograph. The next dilemma I faced was that when we were assigned to find a image by the weekend, my mother was away in Florida so she wouldn’t be able to help me find a photo and my father would get easily frustrated if I asked him to dig through piles and piles to find a photo that I felt intrigued enough about to research. But then it hit me. Grandpa’s photo on my parent’s armoire! I was ecstatic that I remembered that this picture was out in the open for easy access. I thought back to the first time I ever saw this photograph when I was probably around 6 years old. One day my mother brought a frame out and put it on our mantle above the fireplace in our living room. When my mom left the room, I climbed on top of the steps to get a closer look at it. I never saw this photo before but a boy in it looked identical to my older brother Billy. I was so amazed I thought to myself when did Billy take this picture and who the heck is the boy sitting next to him. Everyday for the rest of the week I would climb up to inspect this picture, pondering questions about it. I just didn’t know who that blonde haired boy was and it started to bother me. Finally, I asked my mom about this mysterious photograph. I walked into the kitchen where my mom and dad were sitting and said, “Mom, who is that boy in the picture with Billy above the fireplace? Why haven’t I seen him before? When did you take him to get his picture taken? Why didn’t you take me? Can I go get my picture taken?” (You know how kids ramble off a million questions when asking their parents about something not taking any moments to breathe? Yes it was very similar to that). My mom and dad both started to giggle at me. “Hey! What’s so funny?” I asked. My dad got up from the table and went into the living room. When he came back he had the photograph in his hand and sat back down at the table with my mom. “Come here and sit next to me so I can tell you a little bit about this picture.” I walked over to the table and squished in between my mom and dad, as per the usual routine when I was around them. I pointed to the boy on the left and said, “I know that’s Billy but who is the kid next to him?” My dad agreed that the boy on the left did look my brother but then began to explain who it really was. “This isn’t your brother Billy. This is your grandfather Phil, or as we knew him Pop Pop.” I couldn’t believe that this wasn’t my brother. “My grandfather, Pop Pop? Why haven’t I ever met him before?” My dad began to explain to me that Pop Pop was no longer with us on Earth. “Pop Pop passed away before you were born. He’s in heaven now.” I was starting to feel a little confused because I realized I never met either of my grandfathers. “Wait, who’s dad was he?” My father told me that Pop Pop was his father and used to be married to Grandma. I still couldn’t believe that that picture wasn’t of Billy. That was the last we ever really talked about the photo until this project came about. In Juliet Hacking's book Photography: The Whole Story it is discussed how photographic portrait studios were becoming popular in the mid 1850's. "Cartes de visite emphasized socially constructed identity, located not in the face as a mirror of the soul, but in the presentation of the whole body" (102). The photograph of my Grandfather and Great Uncle would be considered a photographic portrait. In Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes discusses two key elements of photography called studium and punctum. Studium is the "application to a thing, taste for someone, a kind of general, enthusiastic commitment, of course, but without special acuity. It is by studium that I am interested in so many photographs, whether I receive them as political testimony or enjoy them as good historical scenes: for it is culturally that I participate in the figures, the faces, the gestures, the settings, the actions" (26). George Powell sums it up nicely, "Basically stadium is the element that creates interest in a photographic image" (Powell). The studium is what interests the observer in the photograph and what initially draws them into the image. In the photograph of my Grandfather and Great Uncle, I would have to say that studium would be how I felt so drawn to this image because like when I was a young child I am still amazed at the resemblance between my Grandfather and brother. Barthes also discusses punctum. "The second element will break (or punctuate) the studium. This time it is not I who seek it out, it is this element, which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces me. This second element will disturb the studium; for punctum is also: sting, speck, cut, little hole- and also a cast of the dice. A photograph's punctum is that accident which pricks me" (27). "Punctum is the rare detail that attracts you to the image. Clearly this second element is much more powerful and compelling to the spectator, changing the ‘like’ of studium to the love of an image" (Powell). The punctum is what keeps the observer interested and paying attention to the image. The punctum for me that I see in the photograph of my Grandfather and Great Uncle would have to be the outfits that they are both wearing. In our society today, it isn't often that we would see boys of this age wearing fancy attire like this day to day. Their outfits are what made me think that the photograph was taken for a special occasion. Upon further observation rosary beads and prayer books can be seen being held in both of their hands. After making my own observations about the photograph based on what we learned in Camera Lucida and Photography I decided to call my dad and his younger brother, Uncle Phil, to get some of the information about this photo of Pop Pop. First I texted my Uncle Phil a picture of the photo and asking him if I could interview him to get some answers about it. “Wow! It’s been a long time since I have seen that photo!” He said through the phone. I began to explain to him about the project for class and that I needed to ask him some questions. “That’s a photo of your grandfather, Pop Pop and his brother Jack. Pop Pop’s real name was Phillip Francis Raleigh born in 1918 and his brother Jack Raleigh, we knew his as Uncle Jack, was born in 1917. They were considered Irish twins.” He said. “What are Irish twins?” I asked. He began to explain that Irish twins are two children born to the same mother within twelve months of each other. I asked him, “When was the photo taken? “At the time that this photograph was taken in 1927, your Pop Pop was probably in second grade and Uncle Jack in third grade. This picture was taken of them in St. Michael’s Church in Jersey City, New Jersey.” Was there a particular reason that they were being photographed? “The photo was being taken for their 1st Holy Communion.” Was this the first photograph that was taken of them? “No, they had a passport picture taken in 1925 when they were going to Ireland to visit family. It was a photo of the whole family though.” Did they have any other siblings who were not in the photograph? “Yes, they had a older brother, William ‘Bill’ Raleigh born in 1915 and a younger brother, Christopher ‘Chris’ Raleigh born in 1923.” What did their parents do as jobs? “Their parents owned a Dairy Farm with cows that they did the pasteurizing and whole process there. The farm was called Mays Dairy Farm and was actually located where the World Trade Center used to be in New York City.” Wow. That is an incredible fact to learn about. I had heard my family talk about the Dairy Farm and how my dad used to delivery the milk for the family business but I didn't know about its location. I also talked to my dad a little bit about the photo but every question I asked him he would say “Ah, these are really questions that Uncle Phil will have the correct answers too. I don't want to give you the wrong information.” This photo was really interesting to learn about because I didn’t know much at all my grandparents to begin with. What is even more intriguing is how my Grandfather and brother look so much alike. I wish that I had a chance to get to know my grandpa before he passed away and that I had the opportunity to interview him about this portrait photograph of him and his brother back in 1927. My family once had a photograph of my brother in grade school that looked identical to my Grandfather in this image. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate it during the time of this project, which was pretty disappointing. I am glad that I had this opportunity to learn a little bit more about my family and heritage. Works Cited
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980. 26-27. Print. Hacking, Juliet, ed. Photography: The Whole Story. New York: Prestel, 2012. Print. Raleigh, Phillip. Personal Interview. 20 Feb. 2014. Raleigh, William. Personal Interview. 20 Feb. 2014. Studium and Punctum. George Powell Photography, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014 <http://georgepowell.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/ studium-and-punctum/>. |
Left: Phillip Francis Raleigh Right: Jack Raleigh
I called my father asking him to take a photo on his cell phone of my grandfather’s photograph and send it to me in a text message. My father is the figure that can be seen in the background of the reflection of the photograph above.
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