One upon a time, there were no 5,5MP cell phones, no digital camera’s.
No Polaroids, or pocket-sized insta-matics.

There was a time when there were normally no snapshots, no slice of life, no “I had too much to drink last night please don’t put that picture of me on Facebook” photos.

And yet, when I look at these, I am wondering. Was there a back timing to these images? Were they planned, premeditated? Or did “the moment” happen, followed by an enthousiastic “Don’t move an inch, I’m going to get my Daguerreotype”?

Snapshot vs Mise en scene… Or harder yet, a mise en scene that can be mistaken for a snapshot.
This could lead to some interesting images where the scene is very likely to be seen as a snapshot except for a few elements that betray the mise en scene. Of course, some fashion editorials are spot on with that sort of photographic essay but they are maybe still too polished for this exercise. And on the other hand, how far does someone like The Sartorialist sets a scene?

With these thoughts in mind, I feel a new project emerging.

These images come from here. An amazing post of 50 unexplainable Black and White photos.