We have not lived through such a thing: ''photography and the expression of romantic love''

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1558784 (Table of Contents)

This research is about the relationship between photography and romantic love; The need for 'love' and the need for 'memory photography' are in a way similar; they both serve as illusions of togetherness. They are both reflections of the self and they are both proofs of liveliness. Memory photographs have always coexisted with the feeling of love; but in our era where we have various media which allow for sharing, love can not exist without photography either. This thesis is an analysis of the co-existence of 'the romantic love affair' and its photographs. Going through the history and nature of photography, this paper analyses and comments on the need for taking, storing and sharing memory photographs which reflect a relationship of 'love'. In this thesis, I aim to reveal why and how people use photography as an expression for the love they feel. Having focused on the theory of photography, this paper also serves as a supplementary text to my exhibition which is a series of photographs that I took to document the relationships between various people and their photographs, hoping to figure out the reason for the fixation I have had with an individual photograph.