The Family Portrait - Through the Years

How many of you have family portraits hanging on the walls of your homes? If you are like most families, my guess is that you do or at least your parents have family portraits hanging on their walls.  The family portrait is a type of photo that goes back to the very beginning of photography; however, the family portraits, themselves, have changed a bit over time. If you look at portrait of the family above, not a smile can be found, the faces of these family members are stoic and without emotion.  Everyone is formally dressed.  This is very typical of early family portraits.

As time went on, color photos took the place of black and white photos  and we began to see other  subtle changes in the way the family portrait was captured.

In the photo above, you can't help but notice the lovely "wagonwheel" motif and fake lake background.  In this particular photo, the family is dressed up, but there is no "matching" theme. We have stripes, checks, all different colors.  Their faces aren't stoic and yet, they really aren't smiling.

or how about this 1970s photo shown below:

In the this photo, we have half attempts at smiling by the men in the photo, but the woman in the photo has a big smile on her face, but as I view this photo, I can't help but wondering, what is this family looking at?  They aren't looking directly at the photographer, and I can't help but want to know what they are looking at.

As we look at family portraits, we see a little bit of what is happening in our world at that time.  The style of clothing and hairstyles are windows into society.  For example, the photo below is a family portrait from the 1980s.  . . ..it's not hard to miss that BIG HAIR was very much a part of the 80s culture!  Also of  in this picture, the family is all smiling. .  .I guess BIG HAIR is something to smile about. 

In the 1990s, we see a shift again in the family portrait.  We see families beginning to capture "the family" away from the studio setting and in a more playful setting, although the photo is still posed.  We also see a return to "black and white" as being the "in" thing in photography.  Note the family photo below:

And that brings us to 2000 and beyond!!   I think anything and everything goes in today's family portrait world!! Technology has certainly changed who sees our family photos. . . they are no longer just hung in our homes, but they are on the internet on photo sharing sites such as Flikr, they are on blogs, they are on websites talking about different decades, family portraits are everywhere for everyone to see.  In fact, even President Obama and his family have their family portrait posted on Flikr for the world to see.