PHOTO ANALYSIS

- My Family Photograph, was one that was taken some years ago, outside our home one afternoon, and consisted of all 4 members of my family, (that’s mom, dad, my elder brother and I) standing close to each other horizontally

As Dr. Janet Levalley divided us into groups in which we exchanged pictures and analyzed them as a group, the members of my group found my family picture to be one that reflected a “closely-knit” family. They felt that this was so as we were physically standing close to each other. However, there wasn’t really much more any of us could add to this analysis during our group time.

Dr. Levalley however, found this picture to be an interesting one! She noticed and read into details in the picture that all of us failed to notice or understand as indications of our feelings at that time. Dr Levalley was able to read into the possible deeper meanings behind many of the little things about the way we were positioned and the way we connected to eachother in the photograph, that escaped our scrutiny.

My picture consisted of my brother standing next to mom who in turn stood next to dad, who stood next to me. Dad was with a beaming smile, with his arms around mom and myself and she said at once that the way dad was standing straight with each leg pointed out (one towards mom, one towards myself) showed that he was very proud of his “girls” (that’s true) Dr Levally observed that mom (although with her hands down), was with her elbow touching close to dad. She said that Mom and Dad seemed close to eachother. My brother she smiled and said (who was standing next to mom and standing straight, without much contact with mom), she would (seriously) feel was adopted, because of the way he seemed detached. However, she also noticed that he was standing a few inches behind mom and said that he seemed to also be leaning close to mom which showed a bond with mom. Mom was aligned to me with her feet. Dr Levalley observed that mom’s feet and mine were on the same level. Also, although mom’s elbow was touching dad and both her feet (almost bow-legedly) were pointed towards Dad and myself, her bond with my brother was evident because of the way her the length of her other hand touched my brother. I (I was in the corner) was leaning close against Dad and my upper body was heavily tilted towards the family. However Dr. Levalley placed her hand on the picture and split the picture in two and showed that my lower body (especially my legs) were in the opposite direction! She said that while I seemed affectionately bonded towards my family, I seemed very uncomfortable standing there and “wanted to get the hell out of there”.

After our Photo Analysis was done, I thought back on the day in which the picture was taken, I couldn’t help realizing that Dr. Levalley’s analysis was accurate. You see, I recalled that the day on which that picture was taken, I was in a hurry to get back to my best friend (Thinushka) who was patiently waiting in her car, to take me out somewhere. I was very aware that she was waiting and hoped the picture would be done with soon! I guess I was impatient at that time. (I never knew that the picture would indicate that and a surface reading never made any of our group realize it. Even I never remembered that) About my brother, Dr. Levalley guessed that he too seemed to be in a hurry. She was right. As I went home and brainstormed with my family, they remembered that my brother was just rushing in home when he was hurriedly called to stand in. He too was in the process of a quick “get in/get out” and was passing by when the person who took the picture ( a visitor from the UK who visited mom and dad for lunch) was keen on taking a photograph of the family. (We have this picture because he posted it back to us when he returned to London). She was right about Dad being proud of his family and mom being close to him and “aligned” to me but also bonded with her son who was close to her in return. She was right in saying both my brother and myself were in a hurry and I personally found it amazing that she saw this when nothing seemed to make it too obvious to anyone else who took a look at the picture.

I learnt a lot from this exercise of photo analysis. I never knew until than, that so much can be read into or said of a family by simply looking at a family picture! Dr. Levally’s reading of our body language, the positioning of our feet, hands and all those non-verbal symbols and the manner in which we connected to what was happening (or apparently didn’t) not just to the person next to us but eachother as a whole was amazing to me most of all because of how much she said that was right.

I learnt that much can be seen through photographs with regards to social conections among those in it – much, much more that what meets the eye. I enjoyed this exercise very much.

© Slow Chills