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KNOWING HISTORY TAKES US FORWARD
As last month's Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations become a recent memory, here at H2 we are struck by how "visual" a time it has been. Many of our members will have taken images of their local street parties or lighting of beacons, perhaps; recording their personal experiences in a visual form that will become part of their personal and family history. And, who knows, may become more widely known historic records of this time. Will the image of our monarch removing a marmalade sandwich from her handbag be an abiding image of this significant time?
Images have strength; we only need to think of the images of previous historic events; not only in this country, but around the world. They have the power to educate, recall and transport us to those times; bringing to mind what we (or our ancestors) were doing at that time.
It also reminds us of how photography has changed - digital cameras became mainstream in the early noughties. That's not that long ago. Before the digital revolution, our cameras required print or slide film. There was no viewing an image immediately after taking it. And once the 24 or 36 shots had been taken, we had to have the film "developed" and prints made.
It is sobering to consider that even more recently, smart-phones (today's everyday camera?) have been with us only since 2007, but they have heralded a surge of digital images onto image platforms and social media – a quick web search has given the conservative estimate for the number of images taken in 2021 as 1.2 trillion. That’s a lot of memories.
Those who grew up in the noughties are for the most part completely at ease with this rapid evolution of computer technology, whereas some of those born earlier, slightly less at ease. If history teaches us anything, it is that life goes on: sometimes for the good and sometimes for the less-good. We are all making history and should be recording it so that future generations can continue to learn.
Marmalade sandwich, anyone...
(This is an extract from an article in the Much Hadham Parish Magazine written by H2's very own correspondent, Cameron Trypodd :)
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